EIGHTEEN YEARS IN

THE KHYBER

1879 1898

BY COLONEL

WARBURTON,

WITH PORTRAITS , MAP , AND ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDON

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREETx

1900

TO THE READ ER

BEFORE even the manuscript of these pages could be

made ready for press by the AUTHOR, the pen dropped

for ever from the wearied hand which held it . M ar

vellous mental activity and a firm , powerful will had

helped to sustain the Well-knit but slender frame of

ROBERTWARBURTON through nearly thirty-seven years

of Indian service , the latter half of which was

passed in the almost daily worry, care , and anxiety

inseparable from the guardianship of the important

post which had been intrusted to his charge—that ofthe famous and once-dreaded Khyber Pass . HOW

well he fulfilled that trust is on official record,and

Will have its lasting place in the history of Britishrule in India . These pages give in his own simple

language the modest story during years of lonely

exile,of duty done under many difficulties

, and

often under many depressing influences . SIRROBERT

WARBURTON never thought of writing a book until

the idea was aroused in his mind by a kindly hint

given by His Royal Highness the PRINCE OF WALES,

[6] TO THE READER

who has graciously permitted this volume to b e

dedicated to himself . The work w as then com

m enced with SIR RoBERT’

s characteristic energy of

will but the insidious disease from which at times

he had suffered in India,and which became imten

sified during the trying marches and labours of the

Tirah campaign,had already begun its fatal inroads ,

and the end quickly came . Returning from the

Ea st in full hope of future employment , either in

England or, as he would have preferred it , on the

Frontier again,amongst the wild tribesmen who

obeyed and loved him,he came home only to die .

His sad,untimely fate has brought to his widow

many friends,Whom she would desire to thank here

for their expression s of condolence and their kindlyefforts to lighten the burden of her sorrow & above

all, she would humbly express her gratitude to that

August Lady in whose service her husband died,

the QUEEN-EMPRESS OF INDIA, who,from her own

widowed heart,sent words of tenderest sympathy to

INTROD U CTORY

THIS work is presented as the AUTHOR wrote it,

retaining his own method of arrangement as regards

the Chapters and the spelling of Oriental names of

men and places . If the personal element has been

kept much in the background and little beyond

records of public or official incidents are given of the

lonely and trying life led by him amongst the wild

men of the Frontier,the explanation is that SIR

ROBERT WARBURTON did not wish to write merely his

reminiscences but of his practical work as Warden

of the Khyber for nearly eighteen years . He desired

to give an account of that Stewardship . Before he

was appointed to its charge,the Khyber Pass w as

the most dangerous place on the N.W . Frontier of

India —dreaded by even Afghan traders and closed toall others . The state of the relations between the

Government of India and the trans -frontier tribes

was described in April 1877,in a Minute by LORD

LYTTON, then Viceroy and Governor-General,to the

Secretary of State for India,as follows ‘ I believe

that our North-Western Frontier presents at this

moment a spectacle unique in the world ; at least I

[8] INTRODUCTORY

know of no other spot where,after twenty-five years

of peaceful occupation,a great civilised Power has

obtained so little influence over its semi-savage

neighbours , and acquired so little knowledge of them

that the country within a day ’ s ride of its most im

portant garrison (Peshawar) is an absolute term

incogm'

mand that there is absolutely no security for

British life a mile or two beyond our border . ’ From

the date of his first appointment on the Frontier,COLONEL WARBURTON set himself to remedy this state

of things,and during the whole period of his control

of the Khyber,that dreaded Pass w as kept open for

traffic or travel without a single European soldier

or Sepoy being stationed in it beyond Jamrud , and ,when he gave over charge

,it was as safe a highway

as any in India .

The causes which brought about the tribal rising

in August 1897 and necessitated the Tirah campaign

need not be referred to here beyond mentioning that

it was COLONELWARBURTON’

S firm belief that no attack

on the posts of the Khyber would have been success

ful had his services been utilised at once , immediately

after he had expressed to the Government his readi

ness to return to duty in reply to the offi cial telegram ,

to which he refers in his chapter on ‘ The Khyber

D ébacle’

as having been received and answered by

him on August 13 , 1897 . He had in the month of

June previous written to one of the Secretaries of

Government,that a strong w ave of Mahomm edan

fanaticism was passing over the Frontier, and he was

INTRODUCTORY [9]

informed in reply that our political success in the

Malakhand,in Swat , and Dir has broken the back of

Mullah fanaticism for ever 1 Nevertheless , when the

storm burst in August,and he was ready and most

anxious to return to the Khyber to stay the evil

Mullah influence which he knew would be exerted

there , his services were not called for until ten days

after he had tendered the ofier of them . It was then

too late . On August 23 the Khyber posts were

attacked and taken - a day not inaptly described as

one of shame and humiliation for the British autho

rities . How bitterly the old Warden of the Khyber

felt that blow may be gathered from an extract from

a private letter which he then wrote to a friend in

England &

My mind is very heavy over this hideous disaster,

which I feel could have been staved off even up to

the day of mischief . It makes me quite sad to think

how easily the labour of years—of a lifetime—can be

ruined and destroyed in a few days . ’

The hard work of the Tirah campaign which

followed, the exposure and fatigue,coupled with

unceasing attacks of dysentery,may be said to have

undermined his bodily strength and finally to have

caused his death—but the loss of the Khyber, after

his faithful guardianship of so many years,preyed

most heavily upon his mind .

It is no exaggeration to say that it broke his

heart .

CHAPTER I

MY FATHER1830- 1863

My father—His appom tm ent to Bengal Artillery , 1830—Attachedto Shah Shujah

’

s Contingent, 1839—Marr1es niece of DostMuhamm ad Khan—Insurrection at Caubul , 1841

—Becomes one

of the hostages to the Afghan Sardars—My mother ’

s dangersand escapes—My early days—School at Mussoorie and Ken

sington—Addiscomb e andWoolw ich—Gazetted to Royal Artilleryand posted to Panjab—My father ’

s death .

CHAPTER II

ABYSS INIA—PANJAB1863—1870

F inancial troub les—Transferred to Bengal Staff Corps—Posted to2 l st Panjab Infantry—Abyssmian campaign—Transport and

Comm issariat ex periences—Invalided to England—MarriageReturn to India—With 15th Ludianah Sikhs—Appointed to

Panjab Comm ission—Assistant Comm issioner at Peshawar

CHAPTER III

CRIME IN THE P ANJAB

1870

Cattle poisoning Arson—Murder

CHAPTER IV

P ESHAWAR

1870—1872

Life at Peshaw ar —Hunting , shooting, and hawking— Introductionto Cavagnari

~Visit of Mr. W. H . Sm ith, M .P . , to Jamrud

CONTENTS

Murder of Major M acdonald—Colonel Soady—Fatal polo accident —Curious fatality follow ing on Shrine Keeper ’ s prophecyJirgas and m iddlemen—Frederick Mackeson—Audacity of Peshawar thieves—Disappearance of a b andrnaster—Horse stealing

CHAPTER V

MARDAN

1872—1879

Offi ciating at Yusufzai—The Corps of Guides—Ajab Khan—Briefhistory of his career—Zaidulla Khan ’

s loyalty—The ‘ Storm ypetrel of the frontier -Placed in permanent charge of

Yusufzai—Aziz Khan ’

s Widow—Raid of Bunerwals on Sudum

villages m Complications in the Peshawar Valley—Ajab Khan ’

s

trial , condemnation to death, and ex ecution—E x ped ition againstM ia Ruku of Sapri—Surprise of I skhakot and punishment ofthe U tman Khels—Thanks of Government—Characteristics of

C avagnari

CHAPTER VI

KHYBER AND JELALLABAD

1879—1882

War w ith Afghanistan—Wigram Battys—Treaty of Gand am al;Massacre of C avagnari and M ission—Am ir Yakub Khan—Ra idand murder—Punitive ex pedition—Sick leave to England

CHAPTER VII

RETURN To THE KHYBER

1882—1884

M aliks of the Khyb er Range—Abdulla Nur—Treachery of NativeAssistant—Freeb ooter outrages—Murder of Captain FulfordImprovements in the Khyb er—The Am ir and Shinw aris—Thek il ling of Malik Nurulla

CHAPTER VIII

THE DUKE AND DucHEss OF CONNAUGHT’

S

AND THE AM IR’ S VISITS18844 885

Insolence of Am in Khan—Threatens to shoot Lieutenant-Governorof the Panjab—Taking Am ir through the Khyb er- Thanks of

Government

PAGE

CONTENTS [13]

CHAPTER IX

H.H. ABDUR RAHMAN KHAN

1885

His contests w ithAyub Khan—Risings of Shinwaris and GhilzaisCaubul under his rule

P AGE

CHAPTER X

IN THE KHYBER

1886—1888

Afrid i villagers—D isposal of their w idows—Shooting a step-fatherThe Am ir ’s elephant—Inspection by Lord Rob erts—Militarysurveys~—Question of water-supply—Darbar at Peshawar—LordDufferin

’

s visit

CHAPTER XI

THE TOUR OF THE KHYBER MAL IKS AND THE BLACK MOUNTAINCAMPAIGN

1888

Journey down country—Sight seeing at Calcutta—Telegraph sur

prises—Bomb ay—F irst view of the sea—Return C id KarachiIncredulity of friends—Malik Khwas Khan—The U llus Well

’

Black M ountain campaign—Gallantry of Khyber rifiemen

Visit of Generals and Sir Charles Dilke to Landi Kotal—Ahawking party

CHAPTER XII

THE SHILMAN ROUTE

1889

Difficulties in road-making—Khwas Khan a prisoner—Life at Land iKotal —Shinwari women and children—Lord Lansdowne in the

Khyb er—Grand parade—Fighting amongst Shinwaris—GazettedC OSJI .

CHAPTER XIII

THE VISIT OF PRINCE ALBERT VICTOR1890

The Prince at Jamrud—Decoration of Native ofi cers—An historicspot—Creating a Ziarat—Grand review at Rawal Pindi—Princesalutes Ayub Khan—Surprise and delight of the Khyber MaliksGrief at the news of the Shahzada ’

s death

CHAPTER X IV

THE CAUBUL RIVER SURVEY1890 1891

The treaty of Gandamak—Tarakzais and H alini zais—Opposition to

survey-party—Advantages of Tor-Sappar—Officers of the RiverRailway Survey—D a ily trib al Visitors—Shahid M iana—L lwaraM iana—Trib esni en at Attock Camp of E x ercise—Commander-ihChief and Quartermaster-General ride through the Khyb erw ithout escort—M iranzai campaign~Fatal accident near AbuBritish officers fired at—Khyb er Rifles command .

CHAPTER XV

AM IN KHAN ’

S RIS ING

Kuki Khel frontier Offi cers—Am in Khan and Hyder Khan—Sarka ib lood feud—Murder ofAmir Khan —Tirah Mullahs—Intrigue and

troub le—Am in Khan ’

s attack—Repulse and re treat—Fruitlessendeavours to obtain European assistant—Fidelity of Khyb erM aliks and Jirgas —Visitors to Tor-Sappar and Lamb KotalLord Rob erts ’

s final Visit to the Khyb er

CHAPTER XVI

ON LEAVE IN IND IA1893—1894

Inab ility to take leave to Europe—At Murree—Afrid i friendsThe Durand M ission—Akb ar Khan ’

s murder avenged—Visit toSim la—Surrend er one year ’ s leave and resum e appointment inKhyb er—E x traordinary proclam ation—Mr. Curzon

’

s journey toCaubul—Escort him through the Pass—Lord Elgin ’

s VisitNeglected letters

CHAPTER XVII

FINAL YEARS IN THE KHYBER

1895- 1897

Chitral troub les—Nasrulla Khan—Murder of Kharai and Am inKhan—Improvements throughout the Khyb er—Captain Barton'

s

appomtment—Visit of Sir W. Lockhart to Tor-Sappar—TheBoundary D emarcation M ission—My approaching retirementNO European officer to take my place—Good -bye l—Omcialnotifications on my reti rement

CONTENTS

CHAPTER XVIII

THE KHYB ER DEBACLE

1897

Satisfac tory condition of the Khyber in May 1897—No real Afridi

grievance—Turk ish Ag ent at Caubul—Preaching of a. Glmzw

Sayad Akb ar—The ‘Ha dda ’ Mullah and the ‘ Mad Mullah

Attack on Shah Kaddar—Question of my re-employm ent

Appoin ted to Political Staff of Sir W. Lockhart—Attacks on

D argai—The Tirah ma iden—With Kempster ’ s Brigade—Coldcampaigning—D eath of Sir H . Havelock Allan—Faithful Afridiorderlies

CHAP TER XIX

FRONT IER POL ICY

Sir Henry Lawrence and his lieutenants—Form er DistrictOflicers—Lord Lytton

’

s M inute—D is trict Offi cer’ s dutiesHeavy work and difficul ties—Frequent transfers—Arab s and

Maliks—Wasteful frontier w ars—M ix ing w ith trans -b ordermen—Selection of oflicers Forw ard Policy and PanjabPolicy—Failure of the latter—Suggestions on Frontier Administration

CHAPTER XX

THE TBIBE S OF THE KHYBER

Their old evil reputation—My own personal ex periences of themTheir loyalty to me for nearly eighteen years and to—the last

INDEX

[15]

FAG-B

IL LU STRATIONS

PORTRAIT OF SIR R. WARBURTON( From a photograph byMessrs W. d 'D . Downey)

FORT JAMRUD

LALA CHENA—THE PLACE OF INTERVIEW BETWEEN SIR L .

CAVAGNARI AND FAI z MUHAMMAD KHAN , GOVERNOR OFALI MASJID , ON SEPT . 21 , 1878

VIEW TOWARDS PESHAWAR, SHOWING MACRESON’

S ROADA

ND NEW CART ROAD

L OOKING DOWN THE KHYBER PASS FROM THE WALLS OFFORT ALI MASJID

VIEW FROM CENTRE TOWER SOUTH OF AL I MASJID LOOKING TOWARDS PESHAWAR AND SHOWING RIDGE

AFRIDI VILLAGES BELOW AL I MASJID

LANDI KOTAL

SIR ROBERT WARBURTON , LIEUT.-COL . ASLA M KHAN,

OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE KHYRER RIFLES

AT AL I MASJID . PRINCE ALBERT VICTOR, SIR E .

BRADFORD , COL . OMMAN'

NEY, AND OFFI CERS OFSUITE

AT JAMRUD . H .R.H . PRINCE ALBERT VICTOR AD DRESSINGTHE OFFICERS OF THE KHYBER RIFLES

PRINCE ALBERT VICTOR DECORATING NATIVE OFFICERSKHYBEB RIFLES AT JAMRUD

F ron tisp iece

to fa ce p . 30

[18] ILLUSTRATIONS

PRINCE ALBERT VICTOR’ S CORTEGE , ALI MASJID , JAN. 31

1890

SIR ROBERT WARBURTON AND LIEUT .-COLONEL ASLAM

AT ALI MASJID . LORD ROBERTS , HON. M ISS ROBERTS ,HON. FREDERICK ROBERTS , AND PARTY .

SIR ROBERT WARBURTON , LIEUT .-COL . ASLAM KHAN ,

SOW’ARS KHYBER RIFLES

KHFBER RIFLES AFRIDIS FORT JAMRUD

MAP OF KHYBER AND SURROUNDING COUNTRY a t the end

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2 MY FATHER CE I

for his children,and took his family to the south of

France , placing my father and his brother at theCollege of Angers . Here both boys succeeded in

acquiring a complete command of the French lan

guage , and they remained perfect masters of thattongue during their lifetime . But their early training

,or want of it rather

,and their wild Irish natures

made them a terror to the French students , and

much of a trouble to the kind,homely pastors and

tutors who had to look after their intellectual andmoral training .

Getting a nomination to Addiscomb e , my father ,after a course of two years ’ study there , was appointedto the Bengal Artillery in 1830. In those days a

voyage to India was not a light undertaking , and thevessel in which my father set sail occupied 143days on the pa ssage from London to Calcutta .

The Bengal Artillery headquarters were thenlocated at Dum-Dum ,

and my father remained therefor a considerable time . But having left no recordof his private life , and all his associates of those earlydays having long ago passed away

,I know nothing

of his life for several years except that he passedthe Interpreter ’ s test in Hindustani

,which secured

for him one or two officiating appointments and

gave him an increase of pay.

When the army of the Indus was formed in 1839for the purpose of placing Shah Shujah-ul-Mulk onthe throne of Afghanistan

,my father was attached

to the artillery of the Shah ’ s contingent,and took

part in all the operations of the campaign,including

the storming of Ghuzni, for which he received them edal and clasp .

After the evacuation of Afghanistan on the close

1830-50 MY FATHER’S MARRIAGE 3

of the campaign , only the troops which were thoughtsufficient to support Shah Shujah

’

s cause were leftin that country. My father remained in charge ofthe Shah ’ s artillery , and was constantly engaged withhis guns in fighting rebels and keeping order inthe Kohi stan and other hill tracts . But all wasapparently peaceful at Caubul, where the wives ofthe English officers and soldiers remaining in Afghanistan had arrived to j oin their husbands .In November 1840 my father fell in love with

and married a noble Afghan lady, a niece of theAmir Dost Muhamm ad, the witnesses to the mar

riage ceremony being Sir A . Burnes,Colonels Sturt

and Jenkins . The marriage certificate containingtheir signatures , and which is in my possession now,

i s a curious document .Matters continued seemingly quiet at Caubul

, and

Shah Shujah firmly placed, until September 1841,when disquieting rumours of plots and disaffectionbegan to be circulated . Muhammad Akbar Khan

,

Amin-ulla Khan , Ab d -ulla Khan, and other Afghanchiefs were then in fact preparing their countrymenfor the outburst of that storm which in the enddestroyed of our fighting men and

followers between Caubul and Futtehabad , leavingonly one solitary Englishman—Dr. Brydon—to

escape to tell the story to the beleaguered garrisonof Jelallab ad .

On September 28 Colonel Oliver,commanding

the 5thN.I ., was sent with a large force from Caubul

into Turmat to punish a robber chief named AkramKhan . My father with his guns accompanied thisforce . Akram Khan was secured and executed . Buttroubles breaking out in the vicinity of the capital

,

B 2

4 MY FATHER on . 1

Colonel Oliver and his troops were hastily recalled bySir W . M acnaghten ; and in reality it was time forthem to be back to Caubul , where events were ripeningwith the greatest celerity . On the night of November 1

,1841, a respectable Afghan named Taj

Muhammad went in person to the house of SirAl exander Burnes , who w as living in the city ofCaubul , and warned him that insurrection was aboutto break out ; but his report was not credited , andthe man went away hurt and disgusted . The nextday what w as considered incredible really happened .

About three hundred men attacked the dwellings ofSir A . Burnes , of Captain Johnson , paymaster to theShah ’ s force

,of Captain Troup , and the residence

occupied by my father . Finding Sir A . Burnesunwilling to fire on the mob when they first appearedon the scene , the numbers soon increa sed and theirviolence also . Sir A. Burnes

,his brother

,Lieutenant

Burnes,of the Bombay army, Lieutenant William

Broadfoot , of the Bengal European Regiment , withall their escort , and every man

, woman , and chil dfound on the premises were massacred . Rs .of the public money were plundered

,and the houses

mentioned were burnt to the ground . CaptainsJohnson and Troup , and my father happened to be inCantonments on the morning of this insurrection

, and

lost everything ; my mother escaped , and took refugewith her friends and people .

The story of that disastrous time need not bemore than referred to here . Before General Elphinstone and his army of soldiers and campfollowers were permitted by the Afghan chiefs toleave Cantonments , and proceed from Caubul towardsJelallab ad , six hostages had to be delivered over to

1880—60 MY MOTHER’S DANCERS AND ESCAPES 5

the Afghan Sardars for the fulfilment of certainpledges on the part of the English ofiicials . Thesehostages were Captains Airey, Conolly, Drummond ,Walsh , Webb and my father .My father 8 house w as burnt down on November

2, 1841, and my mother had to take refuge with herfriends and relations . For months the troopers ofSardar Muhammad Akbar Khan followed in pursuitof her . They searched houses and quarters whereshe w as supposed to be sheltered, thrusting in all

directions with their lances and swords , trying tofin d out her hiding-place . She had often to runaway from one house thus treated to take shelterin another

,but a merciful Providence assisted the

young wife in escaping from all the se dangers . Ifthe pursuit was strong , and the animosity of AkbarKhan great , that Providence produced friends whohelped and sheltered her through all her trialsand vicissitudes , ranging from November 2 , 1841 , toSeptember 20, 1842 , when she was at length able toj oin her husband, with her son , myself, born in a

Ghilzai fort between Jagdallak and Gandamak onJuly 11 , 1842 . Few w ives and mothers have everexperienced such a terrible eleven months of dangersand suflerings .

1850—1863

On returning to India after the close of the firstAfghan war my father ’ s battery was stationed at

Sipri , where he was j oined by my mother with herinfant son—myself. I was too young to retain anyrecollections Of Sipri , except of two episodes one ofmy being nearly killed by a fall from my pony— a

6 MY FATHER on . I

scar three-quarters of an inch in length over my lefteye still marks the resul t of that day ’ s ride and theother of my setting fire to our bungalow by discharging a miniature brass gun which had beenpresented to my father

,after the battle of Maharaj

pore,by his old friend and brother offi cer the late

Sir Vincent Eyre . A bit of lighted charcoal usedfor firing this toy weapon was blown upon the drythatched roof, which immediately burst into flame ,and in spite of all endeavours to extinguish the fire

the house was burned down and hardly anythingsaved .

From Sipri the battery w as moved to Morar

(Gwalior) , and there I made the acquaintance ofseveral o fficers of the Bengal Artillery

,only one of

whom is now alive—the gallant,honoured

,and

popular Sir William Olpherts , V .C .

My playmates at Gwalior were the Hennessys ,whose father commanded a regiment of the Contingent . The sons have all turned out splendidsoldiers . One of them— George— commanded the15th Sikhs during the Afghan w ar of 1878—80, andw as their chief at M cNeill

’

s zareba . He is still haleand hearty, and quite fit to command a brigade or adivision in any campaign .

In 1850 my father, after a great deal of opposition on my mother ’ s part , placed me at a school atMussoorie , which school had just been started by theRev . Robert North Maddock, an excellent classicand a strict disciplinarian . Such a school was thengreatly wanted in the Hills , and many officers gladlyavailed themselves of it and sent their sons to betrained under Maddock . His method of enforcingdiscipline was a very practical one . Near the school

1850-68 SCHOOL AT MUSSOORIE 7

house there grew clumps of fine thin young bamboos ,called by the natives ringa lls, and these when properly trimmed and shortened made most excellentand flexible rattans

,which when laid on a boy ’ s

person with judgment and strength (and Maddockpossessed both) created a sensible impression . Ourworthy master considered that a moral impressionwas further produced by sending out the offender,knife in hand , to cut and bring in the sample for hisown fiagellation . I had an experience of seven yearsof dear old Maddock and his impressive ringa lls , butI can look back with affection and respect upon hismemory . He was returning to England , after manyyears of hard and patient school work at Mussoorie ,when an attack of smallpox brought his useful life toan end .

From Gwalior my father was ordered to Amritsar,to take command of a native field battery . ThePanjab had been lately annexed , and it w as considered desirable to locate a garrison at Am ritsar .In those days ‘ John Company pitched upon a can

tonment , fixed its garrison,but the officers had to

build their own habitations . Our house at Amritsarhad j ust been finished at a great expense

,and a

large- sized garden well laid out , when an order camefor the battery to march to Nussirab ad . My father,who had then spent twenty-six years ’ continuousservice in the East without a single day ’ s leave toEurope

,resolved to apply for two years ’ furlough

and to take me with him to England to completemy education . On December 1

,1856 , I bade

adieu to the Rev . R . N . Maddock and his schoolat ‘ Grant Lodge ,

’ Mussoorie,and was taken by my

faithful old bearer to Ludianah to await my father ’ s

8 MY FATHER on . x

arrival after he had delivered over his battery at

Nussirabad .

Ludianahwas the locality where the sons of ShahShujah-ul-Mulk

,ex-Amir of Afghanistan , whose

artillery contingent my father had been attached to ,had taken shelter a ft er their retreat from Caubul,subsequent to the disasters of the Afghan war of1839—42 . Whatever may have been their publicfailings I was not old enough to judge in those days ,but the kindness of some of them to me , carried overa series of years , was always of the same uniformcharacter . I was not debarred from going insidetheir harem-sem is , and my knowledge of the Persianspoken by the Saddozai and Barakzai rulers ofAfghanistan permitted me to converse with the wivesOf all the Shahzadas with the greatest ease and

fluency. There were two brothers,Shahzada Shahpur

and Shahzada Nadir,the youngest sons of the nnfor

tunate Shah Shujah-ul-Mulk,who particularly took

my fancy . For resigna tion in the midst of theirtroubles , for gentleness to all who were brought incontact with them

,and for a lofty regard for the

feelings and wishes of others, I have seldom seenfiner types Of the true gentleman than those twobrothers . The elder w as in receipt of a pension ofRs . 500 and the younger of Rs . 100 a month fromthe Indian Government—small sums

,indeed

,with

which to bring up their families and support thenumber of ancient servitors who had been driven outof house and home at Caubul and had followed thefortunes of this royal family into the heat and plainsof India .

At Agra I bade farewell to my mother and all ourold retainers , and proceeded with my father in a

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10 MY FATHER on . x

companion in those early escapades which were theterror and sorrow of the French pastors and tutors .

They now met after a separation of twenty-sevenyears , and were unable to recognise each other &Within a few days after our arrival in London I

w as sent to the Kensington Grammar School , thenunder the care and charge of the Rev . G . Frost . At

that time Kensington Grammar School bore a greatand wide reputation amongst parents in India . Ithad a special cla ss for the sons of civilians and

military officers,offering a sound and technical educa

tion very suitable for the wants of both services inthe country under the control of ‘ John CompanyBahadur . ’ It had a splendid mathematician in theRev . G . Frost . It had produced some fine scholars ,including the gallant and brave Quintin Battye ,

whose young life w as brought to a glorious close inthe charge of the Guides before Delhi . ‘Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori ’

has ever been the mottoof the Battye family . There was a good healthy toneabout the boys , who were fond of all manly sports .One of the directors of the school w as Sir HenryWillock

,also a director of the East India Company

,

who every year generously gave a cadetship to becompeted for

,with the obj ect

,no doubt

,of making

the school more attractive . Before my father returned to India

,at the beginning of the year 1860

,he

had the satisfaction of knowing that his son hadmanaged to secure the very last of these Willockcadetships . But

,being an old Artilleryman

,he was

most anxious that I should j oin the same serviceas himself, and two months after my first success Itried my luck at the Open competition for the RA .

and RE . for India . My first venture was a failure

1850-63 APPOINTED TO ROYAL ARTILLERY 11

in both events,in this wise & I failed to secure the

proper number of marks in French for the RA . and

RE,and Professor Cape , who had given me full

marks for my mathematics at the Willock competition at Kensington , plucked me for a very easy bit inLatin when I appeared before him at Addiscomb e .

However,in the second attempt I was successful in

both issues,but was not permitted to give away the

Willock cadetship,which lapsed and was of no earthly

use to anyone .

After one term at Addiscomb e and two at theRoyal Military Academy, Woolwich , I received mycommission in the Royal Regiment of Artill ery onDecember 18

,1861 ; and after five months ’ duty at

Sheerness,three weeks of which were spent at the

Armstrong gunnery course , Shoeburyness , I receivedorders to sail with drafts for the East Indies . Mynew commander was Captain Sir William Hamilton ,Bart ,

of the late Bengal Artillery,and the first

subaltern Lieutenant Mackie,j ust three years senior

to me . There were about 150men and three ofiicers .

We were embarked at Gravesend,on board the sail~

ing ship S t . L awrence,a very fine vessel

,commanded

by one of the best men of the day, Commander JosephToynbee . In due time we anchored in Table Bay,and saw the sad havoc caused by a sou ’

-wester whichhad wrecked several large ships on the treacherousshore a short time before our arrival . Within twodays we ourselves were driven out by a sou ’

-easter,

and for the next forty-eight hours had to brave thefury of an exceedingly severe hurricane

,but the

St . L awrence being a new vessel,with one of the

most skilful of captains and a good set of officers,we

were soon all right . Within 93 days of our departure

12 MY FATHER on . 1

from Gravesend our vessel anchored in the Hughli,

facing the Eden Gardens .My detachment w as destined for the Panj ab , and

moving by rail and road and river I at length foundmyself at Am ritsar

,where my father was command

ing , and where also , after a separation of six years , Imet my mother again . I had to march my men onto Mian Mir

,but

,thanks to Colonel Moir

,of the Royal

Artillery,I was there relieved and posted to the

1st Battery 24th Brigade,stationed at Fort Govind

ghur,the fortress of Amritsar

,getting permission at

the same time to reside with my father .My father had changed much in appearance since

he had left England at the commencement of 1860.

A severe illness of a painful nature had worried himfor two years or more

,but so reticent w as he regard

ing all personal matters that he had never breatheda word of this in any of his letters to me . I w as hisonly son and yet I never heard from his lips a singleanecdote of his early life . The march from Ferozepore to Candahar the assault and capture of Ghuznithe numerous fights in the Kohistan in which he w asengaged ; the burning of his house and the loss of hisproperty at Caubul ; his offer of him self as a hostagein Afghanistan the dangers which he incurred duringhis captivity from December 28 , 1841, to September20, 1842 , when his life w as hardly worth a moment

’ spurchase the tribulations which his young wife wentthrough ; his share in the battle of Maharajpore—oi

all these matters which I w as so anx ious to learnabout he never would touch upon a single one . Henever verbally complained of any man or of any circum stance . The only complaint ever made by himwas a written one discovered after his death

,in which

1850-63 MY FATHER’S DEATH 13

he grieved that his pay during the season of his captivity had been detained for two years . Many friendswhom he had assisted with loans of money, evenwhen he was a lieutenant

,testified to the help they

had received,but my father ’ s lips were as sealed on

this topic as on everything connected with his life .

He never made an enemy . It w as hard to believethat this was the same man who as a boy had keptthe holy fathers at the college of Angers on the hopfor several years .

A change which my father disliked came withintwo and a half months of our meeting . He wasordered off to command the 19th Brigade R.A .

,whose

headquarters were at Peshawar,inclusive of the

command of the RA . in the Peshawar Division . Hehad no wish to approach Afghanistan again

,but he

never breathed a word of this to the authorities or tome . He went to Peshawar and day by day his healthbecame weaker, yet in his letters no mention w as

made of the change . On November 11,1863 , two

telegrams were placed in my hands at the samemoment in Fort Govindghur. The first

,despatched

forty-eight hours in advance of the second,warned

me to hasten up to Peshawar,as my father was

dangerously ill . The second stated that there wasno need to hurry

,as all was over . The second w as

opened first .

CHAP TER II

AB YS S I NIA—P ANJAB

1863- 1870

MY father died on November 10, 186 3 , aged onlyfifty

-one years . In his usual taciturn w ay he hadkept even the fact of his marriage concealed from all

his family at home , and , for some reasons of his own ,he had declined to j oin the Indian Pension Funds .Possibly

,he thought that his duty w as to provide for

his widow from his own purse,and being a m an of sav

ing habits , and well paid in his younger days for thevarious appointments held byhim ,

he had left sufficientmoney invested in cantonment house property and

in shares of a flourishing bank in India to secure inrents and dividends an income of about 1 ,500l . a yearfor my mother~-the result of the patient economy oftwenty—seven years of isolation and of thirty years ofservice in India . Being one of the executors to hiswill

,I forwarded all his papers in connection with

investments , and his marriage certificate , to the otherexecutor

,my uncle Arthur, and everything was soon

adjusted by the lawyers in Calcutta and London .

In August“

1864 I exchanged into F Battery,

19th Brigade R.A ., then commanded by Maj or David

Newall,and stationed at Mian Mir . June and July

1865 I spent at Simla , and life for me went on pleasantly and smoothly for nearly another year . Thewinter had passed, and the hot weather of 1866 was

1863-70 FINANCIAL TROUBLES 15

j ust setting in when I, with many others throughoutIndia , was overwhelmed by a terrible calamity . The

Agra and Masterman’

s Bank , in which all my father’

smoney had been invested in shares , suspended payment . A few months previously the station of

Amritsar had been broken up as a military cantonment

,and our houses there were lying tenantless .

The provision made for my mother was all gone A

lieutenant of four and a half years ’ service in theArtillery -my pay of Rs . 296 and a few annas permonth was all I had on which to support my motherand myself and maintain us in separate establishments . Further, during the tim e of our affluence Ihad proposed to , and had been accepted by, a younglady in England, who knew nothing of my means ,but who refused to throw me over now when shelearnt that I was ‘ exceeding poor . ’ Luckily , justbefore the suspension of the bank I had drawn out

rupees,which would last my mother for some

time, and all my ingenuity w as taxed to make thoserupees go as far as possible . But it was mani

festly impossible for me to remain any longer in theRoyal Regiment of Ar till ery, and the only otherservice open to me was that of the Bengal StaffCorps . My first application for transfer was notsuccessful—why, I know not ; but in the second Iwas more fortunate . I then asked to be appointedto the Panjab Commission

,a request which the

Lieutenant-Governor, whose private secretary was aGunn er and friend of mine, kindly promised to support . With a j oyous heart I j ourneyed down to FortWill iam , Calcutta , to pass the examination in Hindustani , which I did in my first attempt . I then studiedfor three months for the High Proficiency in Urdu

,

16 ABYSSINIA ca . 11

but before the examination came off I w as posted tothe 21st Panj ab Infantry

,then under orders for the

Abyssinian campaign .

It w as a great pleasure to me to find myselfposted to so fine a regiment ; besides , all the officerswere known to me

,and several w ere friends of mine ,

as we had been stationed together for some time at

Mian Mir . At Calcutta the headquarters and fourcompanies were embarked on the Benga l, the sameP . and O . steamer which had taken my father and

myself from Calcutta to Suez in April 1857 , twocompanies were allotted to a smaller steamer, and

two companies to the old sailing vessel A la bama . Iwent with these last , leaving our moorings at Calcuttain tow of the B enga l, on Christmas D ay, 1867 . Zoulawas reached on January 27 , but it w as not untilFebruary 1 that w e were safely landed and encampedwith the rest of the regiment .My first duty at Zoula w as in connection with

the water supply . We had to depend entirely uponthe condensed water sent on shore from the differentsteamers , as not a drop of fresh water w as obtainablefrom the land side for many a mile . I w as put incharge of troughs from which the transport animalswere daily watered , and I had to stand from 8 A.M .

to 6 P .M . at this work, which w as not a little tryingwith a burning sun overhead and neither seat norshelter available . The tricks of the natives to obtainwater for the purpose of merchandise were many and

amusing . A Somali would come with the animalsand , placing his mouth in the trough , would drink likeone of them . If not carefully watched he wouldproduce a large leather water bottle , which he wouldrapidly fill and then disappear with his loot . Reach

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18 ABYSSINIA on . n

and persuade them to furnish men and animals forcarrying Stores to the troops . I was fortunately successful in doing this

,luckily making great friends

who helped me in every w ay, and when ColonelGrant

, who had gone to Lake Ashangi, returned , all

difficulties were over . So friendly had my intercoursewith the natives been that I w as able to go out forfive or six miles in all directions alone , or attended byonly one unarmed mutineer . Supplies were broughtin daily to the commissariat , and on Saturdays wehad a bazaar which used to be attended by about sixor seven thousand people . Sir Robert Napier , onhis return after the capture of Magdala

,gave hand

some presents to each chief,and w as kind enough to

thank me for my services during the campaign .

But my health had broken down,and on reaching

Zoula again a medical board invalided me to England .

Before sailing I called upon Colonel Dillon,Lord

Napier ’ s military secretary,and asked him to endea

vour to get me recommended by His Excellency forthe Panj ab Commission , telling him the circumstancesof my case . When I cam e away from the interviewI w as not very sanguine as to my petition receivingany particular attention . I had no claim to the consideration of either officer, and although my loss offortune w as a crushing blow to me

,it was not a

matter which would affect anybody else . But I littleknew then of the greatness of heart of my Comman

der-in-Chief,Lord Napier , or of the kindly nature of

his secretary . Lord Napier never failed to the dayof his death to give me encouragement and a helpinghand , and for over thirty years Sir Martin Dillon hasbeen my friend and benefactor on innumerable occas ions .

1863-70 REJOIN STAFF CORPS 19

I had hardly been a week in England when Ireceived a copy of a letter which Lord Napier ofMagdala , as Commander-in-Chief of the AbyssinianForces

,had written to the Lieutenant-Governor of

the Panjab on my behalf, recommending me foremployment in the Panjab , particularly on the frontier

,where he thought I ‘ might ultimately prove a

very valuable officer.

’

Having left India before I had completed theobligatory year ’ s probation for the Staff Corps , I was

sent back to the Royal Artillery, but on my returnto India I w as allowed to rej oin the Staff Corps , and

was also permitted to count my former service in ittowards the required twelve months

’ probation .

On August 29, 1868, I w as married to Mary , solesurviving daughter of William Cecil , Esq , late ofThe Dyffrin and Llanover , in the county of Monmouth

,but owing to the very delicate state of her

health my wife w as compelled to remain in Englandwith her parents

,and did not j oin me in India until

1870, after a separation of over twenty months .Early in April 1869 I was back at Am bala . The

Viceroy,the Commander-in—Chief, and all the pro

vincial governors and high officials who could attendwere there to receive the Am ir Sher Ali Khan

,Wali

of Afghanistan,who with his son

,the ‘Wali Ahad

,

’

Sardar Abdulla Jan,and certain of his great digh i

taries of state,had j ourneyed from Caubul to Ambala

for the occasion . The great fratricidal war which hadwaged in Afghanistan for over four years had endedin favour of Sher Ali Khan

,and he had now come

as the honoured guest of the Government of India .

I was attached as a probationer to the 15thLudianah Sikhs

,but before j oining them at Feroze

C 2

20 PANJAB on . n

pore I hastened to wait on the Lieutenant-Governorof the Panjab

,then at Ambala

,armed with a copy of

Lord Napier ’ s letter,trusting that this and the hopes

an d promises held out to me two years previously atLahore might ensure my speedy appointment to thePanj ab Commission . But that good luck w as notyet on my Side

,so I again made my way to Lord

Napier of Magdala ’ s camp,to solicit his good offices

through my friend Colonel Dillon . I w as receivedwith the greatest kindness

,and introduced to Maj or

Owen Tudor Burne,then private secretary to the

Viceroy, who told me to send in my application directto the /Government of India , which I did . In AugustI passed my examination for the Staff Corps , and inDecember accompanied the 15th Ludianah Sikhsfrom Ferozepore to Peshawar

,where my old school

fellow and friend , George Robertson Hennessy, whow as in the same regiment , know ing my purse to be ascanty one

,insisted upon my having a room under

his roof at a mere nominal rental . But Hennessywould have given his la st shirt off his back if hethought that a friend wa s in need of it .In the month of July 1870 my anxiously-looked

for appointment to the Panj ab Commission arrived .

The notification came to me with a letter from theprivate secretary to the Viceroy , stating that HisExcellency had given me the first vacancy whichhad arisen since Lord Mayo had become Viceroy ofIndia . I w as very glad and grateful , but I knew thatI owed my good fortune to the recommendation ofLord Napier of Magdala , and to the kindly influenceof Sir Martin Dillon and Sir Owen Tudor Burne

.

I was immediately.

attached to the PeshawarDivision as Assistant Commissioner.

CHAPTER III

CRIME IN THE PANJAB

MY duties now gave me my first experiences of a

c ategory of crimes and ways of carrying them outwhich would have seemed marvellous in any other

locality .

These crimes were & cattle poisoning setting fire

to crops which had been reaped and heaped up forthreshing purposes ; murders for revenge , or on

account of ear,

zan,or zamin (wealth , woman ,

land) .Poisoning cattle w as a cruel act

,and

,although

one of frequent occurrence , it was very difi cult totrace the crime to the real offenders . The method ofpoisoning was to mix arsenic and flour together

,and

wrap the mixture round -with hay so as to attractthe notice of the passing animal ; or the mixturewould be placed in the hollow of an ear of Indiancorn and bound round with grass , and thrown on theground where an enemy ’ s cattle were known to betaken out to graze . The lads in charge of theanimals would be seen marching in front

,picking up

and examining every suspicious bundl e that theynoticed

,but even with this precaution many cattle

were poisoned and died . Sometimes the poisonousmixture was introduced into a feeding-trough

,but

this was a dangerous experiment and more easy of

22 CRIME IN THE PANJAB ca . 111

detection . There were instances , however, when thecrime w as rather boldly executed

,yet

,notwithstand

ing the risk of detection run,the proof of guilt could

not be legally brought home . On one occasion , in a

crowded thoroughfare,a fruit-seller saw his enemy

’

sbuffalo coming along . The attendant , thinking thatthe animal was safe from harm in such a place ,lagged a few yards behind his charge to talk to a

stall keeper . To take a slice of melon, peel it , andplaster it with a mixture of arsenical dough , throw itin front of the buffalo

, and watch it taken down witha twirl of the tongue was for the fruit- seller thework of an instant . The careless keeper of theanimal , suspecting no danger, saw nothing of this ;but the bufialo died, and the owner charged the fruitseller with the offence . When I put the questionto him ,

‘Why do you charge this fruit-seller withhaving poisoned your buffalo the immediate answerwas ,

‘Because I have no other enemy in the worldwho would do me this harm .

’ People in the Peshawar Vall ey counted their enemies and knew themwell .Burning cut crops was another infamous proceed

ing,for at one fell stroke the season ’ s produce

belonging to one man, or to half a village , would bedestroyed in a few minutes . The civil authoritiesused to advise the village headmen to place earthenvessels filled with water close to their ricks , and tokeep men on watch and ward until the harvest grainhad been gathered in ; but the Pathan is a lazy individual and careless to a degree . The consequence wasthat great and frequent losses occurred from theseincendiary fires—losses which might easily have beenavoided if the owners of the ricks had only displayed

1870 CROP BURNING 23

a little more attention to their property and watchfulness against their known enemies . It was di ffi

cul t otherwise to prevent these burnings or to detectthe culprit , for an enemy determined to have his

revenge had often a dust storm or the darkness ofnight to assist him in his nefarious design . Onesystem of carrying out this offence which came to

my notice as a magistrate deserves a passing word .

In India , away from the forest tracts , scarcity offuel presses heavily on the poor. To meet this greatwant droppings of bullocks , cows , and buffaloes are

carefully collected, mixed with straw, made intocakes about ten inches in diameter, dried in the sun ,and used for cooking and domestic purposes . A bitof this cake when lit acts as a slow match , giving outthe least modicum of smoke , which is hardly noticedeven if openly carried by hand in broad daylight . Toplace a good pinch of gunpowder into a hollow madein a piece of this cake , to cover it over to prevent thepowder from falling out , to light it at one end, creepon all fours , place it in the stacks of wheat , barley,or millet at the close of the spring , or in those ofIndian corn at the close of the autumn harvest , was avery simple process . The slow match, hardly givingany smoke , burnt until it reached the powder, thenthere was a sudden blaze , and the whole harvest collected at that spot was destroyed . Of course thereal culprit was never seen, for he is far away by thetime the fire breaks out , but the complainant knowshis enemy, and when the deputy inspector of policearrives to make inquiries , he is assured that no onebut Din Muhammad, the complainant

’ s enemy,could

have done it . He had been seen and watched creeping towards the stacks , and on reaching them he had

24 CRIME IN THE PANJAB ca . 111

taken a match-box,lit a match

,set fire to the crops ,

and then fled. Further,the blaze had revealed his

features,and So-and -so could swear on the Koran

that they had identified him . But Din Muhammad ,on his part

,is quite equal to the occasion . Was he

not,at the very hour of the conflagration ,

at a

wedding in a neighbouring village ; and did not Aand B meet him as he w as going there ? Did notC and D see him as he stood at the corner of thevillage guest-house ; and did he not have a smokewith E and F at their well

,as he w as returning

homewards ? Din Muhammad has taken the precaution to secure his witnesses and to rehearse hisdefence for days before he ventures to make theattempt on his enemy ’ s collected crops

After many years ’ experience of crime in thePeshawar Valley

,it is my full belief that in the

carrying out of a deliberate murder the perpetratorspreviously rehearse the whole line of defence for daysand weeks

,and not until they think that they are

quite perfect in their part s is the murder attempted .

No wonder that some of the criminal cases whichhave come up for inquiry in the Peshawar Valleywould have puzzled a modern Solomon .

Here is a case in point which was reported to meby the Deputy Commissioner of Kohat . A Bangashlandowner had fallen in love with a neighbour ’ s wifeand taken her across the border amongst the independent tribes

, who gave him shelter and food .

Nothing in the world would induce them to surrenderhim alive

,but they had no hesitation in oflering to

kill him,or to get him murdered whilst in their

country . After some trouble , the husband and

brothers of the woman induced an agent to go to the

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26 CRIME iN THE PANJAB on . m

manshi (or secretary) , and all his friends and supporters knew who these hired assassins were ; but nota word of this did they

,or would they

,reveal to the

authorities who came to make inquiries . Two nearrelations of the Khan , innocent men , who had beenforemost in contesting his claim to lands in dispute ,were charged with the murder and committed tosessions

,but after a careful inquiry they were

acquitted .

CHAP TER IV

P E SH AWAR

1870- 1872

AT the time of my appointment to the Panj ab Commission

,and of j oining it at Peshawar, in the month

of July 1870, Captain (afterwards Colonel) W . G .

Waterfield was Deputy Commissioner of the district ,Captain Macpherson w as the senior assistant , thed istrict staff

,especially the European element , being

rather weak owing to officers having been laid up frompress of work and the unhealthiness of the place .

Peshawar had at that time a very evil reputation inevery w ay & life and property were by no m eans safe ,the cholera season of 1869 had been an exceptionallydeadly one , and the troops and residents in the entiredistrict were being decimated by a very trying typeof fever, which seemed to baffle all the efforts of thedoctors and which resembled cholera in some respects .The railway from Rawal Pindi to Peshawar had notthen been Started

,and the hundred miles of j ourney

by dak-gharry during the months of June , July, andAugust managed to give the coup -cle-grace to morethan one ailing creature trying to get away to thecool breezes of Murree . It was a station to beavoided and dreaded in 1870, and when a commandcame for a regiment to march from some attractivedown-country cantonment to this far-away deadlyhole

,a pang of regret was felt by those who could

28 PESHAWAR an . IV

not evade the order ; and as for the native servants ,they by some means or other frequently managed toleave their masters in the lurch , and contented themselves by keeping away from the Peshawar Valley.

In spite of all this I liked Peshawar, and soon learnt

that many of its evils were magnifi ed . Thereforewhen a note from the Private Secretary to the Viceroyintimated that I had been selected for an appointment to the Panjab Commission , I resolved to ask

permission to be allowed to j oin it by remaining atPeshawar . It was some time , however, before themilitary authorities perm itted me to leave my regiment at Peshawar to j oin the Commission at thesame place

,and those days of delay appeared to me

so many chances of hopes being destroyed . But atlength the order for my j oining arrived

, and mysuspense was at an end . The Commissioner of thePeshawar Division w as then Colonel (now Maj orGeneral Sir Frederick Richard) Pollock.

In the early part of the spring a three days ’

invitation had taken me to Kohat as the guest of anold friend who had been with me throughout theAbyssinian campaign , Alfred Gaselee , formerly of the93rd Highlanders , and at that period Quartermasterof the 4th, now Maj or-General Sir Al fred Gaselee ,K .C .B . Whilst at Kohat I had the pleasure ofbeing introduced to Pierre Louis Napoleon Cavagnari,Deputy Commissioner of that district , then one ofthe ablest and most promising ofi cers on the NorthWestern Frontier of the Panjab , and w ith whom itwas my good fortune to be afterwards associated induty and to earn his confidence and friendship .

Peshawar could be enjoyable , in spite of itsexecrable climate , during the hot w eather, provided

1870-72 SPORT AT PESHAWAR 29

your health remained good . There was a pack ofb ounds

, and hunting the wily jackal twice a weekduring the cold season afforded excellent sport .Geese , duck , snipe , ubara , sand-grouse , quail , could beshot in the greatest profusion and without asking anyone ’ s permission . Those who cared for hawking deercould enj oy that rare pleasure by going over to HotiMardan , where the gallant Corps of Guides could givethis sport to their friends . The hawks had to betrained in a peculiar way. They were taken youngfrom their nests in some part of Northern Afghanistan

,

and when perfected they used to be sent down to theofficer commanding the regiment by an old friendlyBarakzai Sardar . With his death, somewhere about1872 or 1873 , the supply ceased . At least this wasthe explanation Of the cessation of the sport given tome when I afterwards was stationed at Hoti-Mardan .

Black and grey partridge , sisi , ravine deer, urial , andmarkhor could also be had in the surrounding hillsand about their skirts . But the wild men of the hillsprevented the shikarring of the la st two

,and the

rul es and prohibitions of the civil authorities barredthe rest

,except to a very favoured few, such as the

officers of the Guides , who coul d arrange a week ’ sexcellent sport in the Sudum Vall ey towards Rustam

,

Baringan , Pirsai , P allodheri ; and in the Katlangquarter towards the villages of Sangao , Mia Khan ,Babuzai

,Shamozai . Polo was played in the centre

of Cantonments , there w as an excellent cricketground near the Residency buildings , and one of theprettiest racecourses in the world on the site of anancient jheel below the fort , where a few years before

fifteen to twenty couple of snipe could be secured bythe oflficers on duty inside the fort , who were pre

30 PESHAWAR on . IV

sumed to have the sole right of shooting on thatground . There were

,further

,pleasant rides in the

direction of the Shahi Bagh (King’ s Garden) , Bagh—i

Wazir (the Vizier’ s Garden) , and in and out of the

peach gardens . It w as a pretty sight to go round ofan early spring morning and see hundreds of acres ofpeach , plum , quince intermixed, all out in bloom .

In those days officers were forbidden going beyondBurj n i-Harri-Singh

,which lies about four miles from

Peshawar Church,towards Jamrud . Once I was

permitted to go as far as Jamrud with the late Mr .W . H . Smith

,when special arrangements had been

made for conducting and escorting him from Peshaw ar to this ruined fort on his visit to the PeshawarValley . On a later occasion I received a kindly wigging for having taken out a hawking party to the leftof the Peshawar Jamrud road , under the guidanceand protection of an old KhalilArbab of Tai-Kal Bala.

Both sides of the road from Burj -i-Harri—Singh to theKhyber (more especially that portion to the lefttowards the Besai spur) were well covered withj ungle about this time , and I saw good-Sized herds ofravine deer , ten to fourteen in number, on the occasion that I first j ourneyed in that direction . However

,since the Afghan w ar of 1878 the residents of

the Peshawar District , emboldened by our holdingthe Khyber Pass , have gradually cleared away all

this wood,and with the want of cover the game has

disappeared also .

As magistrates there was one duty which wewere one and all bound to carry out in rotation

,

highly odious and obj ectionable as it was to us . Thisobligation chiefly fell on the junior magistrates

,

Assistant Commissioners at the headquarters of the

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32 PESHAWAR an . TV

spot where it issues from the hills and about twentyeight from Peshawar Cantonments . The oflicers

named were often seen at Peshawar,and were much

liked for their hospitality and general good fellowship to all who had to go out to these forts onpleasure or duty.

Ma j or Macdonald was murdered in the springof 1873 by Bahram Khan Mohmand of Lalpura

,

assisted by a number of his followers, a short distance

out of Fort Michni, in the direction of the hills .What was the motive for this cowardly outrage Inever exactly learnt , as at the time of the event Ihad gone to Calcutta with the Obj ect of passing theHigh Proficiency test in Persian . But what I heardon my return was this . Maj or Macdonald was theowner of a very fine bull-dog, and whilst walking outone day followed by the animal , he met BahramKhan and some of his men , accompanied by somevillage curs of the commonest type . These attackedthe bull-dog, and Macdonald

,losing his temper

,

spoke in severe tones to the leader of the cavalcade,

not knowing that he was related to the family ofMohmand chiefs of Lalpura . The parties after thiswent their way, and the British Officer thought nomore of the incident . Not so the Mohmand, whohad the commandant of Fort Michni watched, andlearnt that he was in the habit of walking to a

certain quarter nearly every day quite unarmed . Oneday Maj or Macdonald and Captain Clifford

,com

manding the detachment from Peshawar,accom

panied by the same bull-dog, were out for their

usual stroll , when they were attacked by BahramKhan and his gang . The Maj or was killed

, and thedog

,trying to save his master

’

s body frommutilation,

1870-72 COLONEL SOADY 33

was badly out about with either swords or long hillknives , whilst Captain Clifford managed with difficulty to escape . AS you enter the Peshawar Church

,

by the door facing the Club grounds,Macdonald ’ s

monument , erected by public subscription , is on theright-hand Side

, and the inscription tells the readerthat he was murdered by Mohmand Afridis . A

strange error after twenty-four years ’ experience oftwo tribes entirely different from each otherColonel Soady,

Governor of Fort Abazai,w as an

ofl‘icer much feared and respected by the villagersliving outside his command . To amuse himself hecultivated some of the fort lands , and in the production of his barley, wheat , mustard , and sugar-canecrops he had to indent on the water cuts for irrigatinghis fields . Whether he indented too freely

,or whether

the villagers had an idea that the fact of the commandant taking to cultivation was trespassing ontheir rights , an ill-feeling sprang up against himwhich lasted for years . They secured his Englishplough and threw it into the river ; they used to cutdown his crops at night , and he often had to stand indefensive attitude for the protection of his property

,

rifle in hand . He had his own ways of retaliation,

however . One night , to prevent a high official fromusing his encamping ground , he let loose the flood

gates , and next morning , when the official’

s baggageand tents arrived , there were two feet of standingwater on what some hours before had been dryground . The stories of Colonel Soady

’

s eccentricdoings and sayings were many, but the peopleadm ired his frank , fearless demeanour, for he had noconception of what fear or danger meant .A sad accident at polo lost me a very old friend

D

34 PESHAWAR on . IV

and schoolfellow, and put a stop to this game beingplayed at Peshawar for a period . Captain Anderson ,Adjutant of the 5th Bengal Cavalry

,then stationed

at Naushehra , w as a rare good rider and an excellentexponent of the game as it used to be played in thosedays . He was on the ball

,his pony going at the

utmost stretch of speed,when another schoolfellow,

mounted on a larger pony and closely following ,collided with him and sent the smaller pony and

rider to the ground . Anderson w as picked up senseless , never rallied , and died in the house of hisbrother-in-law

,then commanding a cavalry regiment

stationed at Peshawar . He was buried in thecemetery on the Jamrud road .

A curious fatality attended three officers of thiscorps

,the first victim being my friend and school

companion,Anderson . I repeat the narrative as

recounted to me by many,more especially by a native

officer of high family belonging to the regiment .Captain Anderson

,Lieutenant Williamson

,and Dr .

Palmer had lately come to be stationed at Naushehra .

Houses were very scarce there in 1869—70, and thesethree resolved to build one suitable for their wants asa j oint stock concern . A site w as selected near theright bank of the Caubul Ri

'

ver,not very far from the

bridge of boats,in a tope of shisham trees , and about

the greenest spot that could be found in the neighb ourhood . Now ,

in all Cantonments , where land hasbeen taken up for military purposes from a Muham

madan community , you often see an old tomb whichis presumed to be a elara t or shrine

,the resting-place

of some departed saint . Such a shrine has always akeeper attached to it , who lights the evening chiragh,or oil lamp of earth , about 6 P .M . every Thursday

1870—72 THE DEVOTEE’S CURSE 35

and accepts any offerings handed over by devotees ,who put their faith and trust in the sacred characterof the buried . Numbers of such graves are to beseen in Peshawar Cantonments

,and at Naushehra ,

which are lit up every Thursday evening,possibly not

a single keeper knowing the name of the holy man

whose interests he is guarding in his own peculiar way.

It is said that on the site selected for their houseand enclosure at Naushehra the three officers namedcame across a grave of the nature described . Forsome reason or other the keeper of thi s shrine wasnot pleased

,and prophesied that evil and misfortune

woul d follow and overtake them and their housewithin a fixed period . The fate of one has alreadybeen described .

Some months afterwards the second officer,whilst

hawking after ravine deer with the hawks and houndsof the Guides across the Caubul River towards Mar

dan,w as killed in a similar manner by his horse

colliding with that of another rider . The third officerwas drowned in the Ganges . Lastly , an unusuallyheavy flood in the Caubul Stream swept away everytrace of the house and of the servants ’ buildingswithin the compound area . Whether the story ofthe devotee ’ s curse be true or not

,the other facts

are . Time after time have I passed by and walkedround the site where those buildings once stood

,

without noticing any remains that had been savedfrom the flood . And no one has attempted to buildanother house on the same site .

The work with the tribes living beyond ourboundary used to be arranged and managed throughcertain native Khans and middlemen of the PeshawarDistrict

,who happened to be living in close proximity

D 2

36 PESHAWAR on . W

to that particular border,or whose families had been

in friendly intercourse with men of note belongingto the border tribe concerned . Our representativegenerally was a m an of good family

,whom our system

wished to make much of . The j irga,or council of

the tribe , invariably consisted of men each of whomby some deed of daring , or some act of savage ,treacherous murder, had brought himself to the frontin his own proper section of the tribe to which thewhole Council belonged . Our middleman had to seethe independent j irga

,and bring them up before the

Deputy Commissioner of the district to settle all

disputes that might spring up between British sub

jects and the tribesmen beyond the border . In fact ,he acted as an envoy or ambassador on behalf of theDeputy Commissioner to the particular tribe he w asin touch with

,and every other British subj ect in the

district w as barred from interfering in any way withhis charge . In those years Ibrahim Khan , of Zaida ,was in charge of the Gadun and Khudu Khel tribesAm ir Khan of Shewa looked to Narinj i and ChamlaAjab Khan had control of arrangements with all

the sections of the powerful Bunerw als,mustering

about fighting men . The Khans of Hoti andMardan were rival candidates for Swat and lowerRanizai. Mir Hassan Khan of Tangi and the Miahsof Ab aazi had their eyes on the Utman Khels . TheMohmands were managed through the Khan ofMatta Mughul Khel and the Tehsildar of D aodzai.

Arbab Abdul Maj id Khan , Khalil of Jaikal Bala ,threw his influential mantle over the Mullagoris

and the six Afridi tribes of the Khyber Range whilstArbab Sarfaraz Khan , Mohmand of Landi Yarghajo ,chaperoned the Ak a Khel and the Adam Khel Afridis .

1870-72 ARBAB s AND MIDDLEMEN 37

This system ,which was a most pernicious one ,

was in existence from the confines of Agror in theHazara District , right through to the extreme southernlimits of the North-Western Frontier, under thecontrol of the Panj ab Government . After Spendingabout twenty-nine years of my service on thePeshawar Frontier, including eighteen years incharge of the Khyber Pass—where , by living amongstAfridis

,Shinwaris

,Mohmands

,&c .

, for severalmonths at a time

,I had opportunities of learning

personally from men who had come to place confidence in me—my firm and solemn conviction is thatthe maj ority of the wars and fights between theBritish Government and the independent tribes of thePanjab Border were due entirely to the evil intriguesand machinations of the Arb ab s and middlemen ,who had been employed by us to do our work withthe tribesmen . I shall refer to this subj ect againfurther on .

Every Englishman who pays a visit to PeshawarCantonments should stop and examine a smallmonument which stands on the Mall

,a short distance

west of the Civil buildings , and facing What used tobe known as the Royal Artillery Hospital . It isimpossible to miss it . The ground and surroundingsare extremely pretty and nicely kept . The tabletreads thus

HERE L IES THE BODY

FREDERICK MACKESON

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL OF THE BOMBAY ARMY, COMPANION OF

THE BATH, AND COMM ISSIONER OF PESHAWURWHO WAS BORN SEPTEMBER 2ND 1807

AND DIED SEPTEMBER 14TR 1853

OF A WOUND INFL ICTED BY A RELIGIOUS FANATIC.

38 PESHAWAR an . IV

‘ The reputation of L ieutenant-Colonel M ackeson as a

soldier is known to and honoured by all. His value as a

political servant of the State is known to none b etter thanthe Governor-General him self, who in a difficult and eventful time had cause to m ark his great ab ility, and the

admirab le prudence, discretion , and temper which added

tenfold value to the soldierlike qualities of his character .

The loss of Colonel M ackeson w ould have dimmed a victory.

To lose him thus by the hand of a foul assassin is a mis

fortune oi the heaviest gloom for the Government , whichcoun ted him among its b ravest and b est .

’

This grand tribute to the dead appeared in theorders of the Marquis of Dalhousie

,then Viceroy and

Governor-General of India,Who knew how to appre

ciate and value services rendered to the State . Themonument was erected by private subscription

,and

a few yards away from it a well w as excavatedWhichwas to provide pure drinking water for rich and

poor . Take care you fetch my drinking water fromMackeson Sahib ’ s well

,

’

was a command invariablygiven to your water-carrier in Peshawar thirty yearsago .

M ackeson’

s name first appears in notice when as

a political assistant he is found collecting supplies forthe army of the Indus , then about to march fromFerozepore to Bhawalpur in the first Afghan war of1838—42 . When his task was completed

, and thearmy had passed Bhawalpur towards the Bolan Pass ,he came back to Ferozepore and moved to Peshawarto take up his duties in the Khyber and keep thepass open . The difficulties he had to face for years

,

and the indomitable pluck he displayed in carryingout his work single-handed in such a place and

amongst such people , few can understand who havenot had the experience of working single-handed with

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40 PESHAWAR an. IV

occurred over 45 years ago, there must have beensomething in the character

,deeds

,and life of this

man to have kept his memory still fresh and dear tothe savages of the Khyber Range .

In Peshawar during 1870, as now ,necessity forced

every officer to have a watchman to keep guard overhis horses

,goods

,and chattels from about 5 RM . to

say 7 A.M . the next morning . This gentleman, who was

generally a thief himself, came to the house as thesun w as setting , and cleared out the next morning,when he went away to his own home and kept to hisown business until evening again approached, whenhe re-appeared at his master ’ s house . He had nohesitation in getting his master ’ s neighbour robbed ,or if two officers lived in the same house and Onlyone kept a night watchman

,the other officer was

almost certain to be robbed, unless he consentedto pay blackmail to the tune of Rs . 5 a month byentertaining another scamp of a chow lnclar or watchman . When I was living with my friend ColonelHennessy

,the Kotwal of the Cantonm ent Police

supplied me with a ragged ruffian wearing Shoes madefrom the dwarf palm ,

with a useless pistol stuck inhis waist-band

,as my guardian . He was a Bassi

Khel Afridi,a sub-division of the Aka Khel , number

ing about 300 armed men , every one of whom w as a

thief by birth,instinct

,and profession ; but in those

days I w as ignorant of these matters . My guardiantook fair care of me

,until one night he had a portion

of my tent removed from my verandah . The police,

however,having traced his footsteps , my watchman

’ ssecurity

,amounting to Rs . 30, was handed over to

make good my loss , and the Bassi Khel made himself scarce . When I went to live with the Head of

1870-72 PESHAWAR THIEVES 41

the Police in the month of July 1870my old rooms

at Colonel Hennessy’ s were given over to a brother

ofiicer who had returned from leave in Kashmir . Herefused to keep a watchman , and so one evening aftermess

,on returning to his quarters , he found his rooms

entirely cleared out . Poor fell ow,he w as an officer

always neat and exceedingly particul ar about his

appearance and dress , and his loss was close upon

3o0l. sterling in value , hardly any of which was everrecouped to him .

The audacity with which thieves in the PeshawarValley broke into houses and barracks in Cantonments

,and carried off property, chiefly rifles , baffles

all description . This applies not only to the olddays of our occupation , but to very recent dates . Inthe spring of 1897 a thief shot a Dogra sentry ofthe 2oth Panjab Infantry dead not far from theirmain guard

,and managed to escape w ith his rifle .

During March 1898, as the Headquarter camp of theTirah Expeditionary Force w as encamped at Peshawar on the parade ground of the 35th Sikhs , a sentryof this regiment was shot dead and his Martini takenaway. The more valuable the arm i s

,the more

daring and the more venturesome will the thief beto get hold of the weapon . But the boldness of thesethieves is not only practised in the Cantonments ofPeshawar and Naushehra ; it is exemplifi ed at Tarn,

Naushehra , Ak ora , Khyrab ad , the four marchingstages between Peshawar and Attock. I do not knowwhich of these stages has the worst reputation

,but

frommy experience of it Taru woul d be hard to beat .A regiment of the Panj ab Frontier Force , marchingfrom Kohat through the Kohat Pass to the RawalPindi darbar in the spring of 1885 , had all their

42 PESHAWAR CH . Iv

night sentries ’ rifles loaded with buckshot cartridges .

Nothing was lost on the j ourney,and Rawal Pindi

was reached in safety . Here,thinking that they were

out of the region of rifle thieves,an order w as issued

to discontinue the use of buckshot cartridges bysentries placed on duty round the camp between sunset and sunrise . The very first night of the discontinuance two Martini-Henry rifles were carried off.

Rifle thieves had followed the regiment over everyinch of their march from Kohat , and had acceptedthe very first opportunity and chance given them ofcarrying away the weapons , which weapons I recoveredfor the regiment some years afterwards . Instanceshave occurred in which professional thieves havefollowed a regiment on the march from Peshawar tosome down-country station for a month or more ,waiting for the chance of getting a good loot , and theyseldom returned empty handed . I believe there ishardly a station or encamping ground in NorthernIndia and the Panj ab where these men have not oneor more friends and allies

,who house and feed the

thieves, and help them in secreting and removing

arms and rifles stolen , receiving in turn a share fromthe sale and disposal of the same . Honour amongstthieves is exemplified in the w ay in which the abovecustom is always respected and thoroughly carriedout

,whatever be the nationality or religion of the

thief and his helper .One morning in the seventies it was whispered

about Peshawar Cantonments that the bandmasterof a distinguished regiment had disappeared . Thesecret of his whereabouts w as well kept for two orthree days , and then it leaked out that he had beencarried off

,and w as a prisoner amongst the Zakha

1870-72 KIDNAPP ING A BANDSMAN 43

Khel Afridis of the Khyber Pa ss,by whom he w as

well fed and kindly treated . The civil authoritiescalled upon Arbab Maj id Khan , Khalil of Taikal Bala ,to recover the bandmaster

,and within a week or ten

days he was brought back safe and sound to hisregiment at Peshawar . Some years afterwards

,when

I had been for a long period in charge of the KhyberPass and had become well acquainted with the ZakhaKhel

,I remembered the anecdote of the bandm aster,

and asked his captors to tell me what had occurredon that occasion . They said that a band of NikkiKhel Zakha Khels of the Khyber started on an

expedition towards Peshawar,

and passing thecemetery on the Jamrud road

,they descended into

the ravine , which commences at the Brigade paradeground and goes round the whole of the Cantonments on that side , past the second cemetery bythe road that leads from Peshawar to Michni,where it j oins the Sheikh-ka-Katha and the Budnistream , through the Military Works Departmentbrickfields . On the night in question they had notgone far, had not even reached the lower cemetery,when they noticed a lighted lantern in the ravine anda European lying on the ground close beside it . Theyscattered at once , thinking it was some trap laid byMr . Nyx , at that period Inspector of CantonmentPolice but , crawling round and round the light , theygradually approached it until they came upon thefigure of a European fast asleep . Extinguishing thelantern , they raised the sleeper on their shoulders ,and carried him for a distance of four miles

,until

they had passed the police station of Burj -HarriSingh , where they placed him on his feet and ,supporting him , made him walk towards Jamrud Fort

44 PESHAWAR on . w

and the Khyber . It must have been a powerfulnarcotic that had been adm inistered to him thatevening, for he walked eight miles and had reachedthe entrance to the pass before the dawn began toappear and the cool morning breeze brought him tohis senses . Making use of a friendly expression heattempted to break away from his captors , but theyimmediately drew their long Afridi knives

,call ed

charas, and gave him to understand by visible signs

that they had no intention of being trifled with .

After this he went quietly with them to their ZakhaKhel settlements

, and remained there until broughtback to Peshawar . The Zakha Khel spoke well ofthe behaviour of the bandm aster

,to the effect that

during the week or ten days he was under their chargehe displayed no fear .One other incident to illustrate the boldness of

Afghan thieves . One morning the men of the Corpsof Guides

,whilst at their target-practice at Mardan

,

were a stonished to see a Pathan mounted on a horsewith a military saddle going away at full speedtowards Gujar-Garlic (a Village two miles from thecantonment of Hoti—Mardan) followed by a policesowar with a drawn sword mounted on a horse witha hunting saddle . Coming up to the runaway thesowar fetched him down with a cut , and pursuer andpursued moved on to the civil lines , where the matterwas thus explained . The Sessions Judge of PeshawarDivision

,followed by his police orderly sowar

,had

ridden into the compound of Mr . Beckett , AssistantCommissioner

, and , dismounting , made a Sign to hisorderly to hold his animal pending the arrival of hissyce or groom . The orderly, seeing a Pathan seatedin the compound, called to him to hold his horse

1870-72 HORSE STEALING 45

whilst he took charge of the animal ridden by theSessions Judge . The Pathan did so

,and

,getting into

the saddle,made off as hard as his mount could go ;

the sowar,seeing how the land lay, j umped on to the

judge ’ s horse,gave chase , and managed to cut down

the thief and secure his own horse . It appears thatthis same Pathan had previously played a sim ilartrick on a groom in the service of the ExecutiveEngineer

,who was taking his master ’ s horse from

Mardan to Katlang . Meeting the Pathan on theroad

,he asked him to hold the animal for a moment

whilst he dismounted . The Pathan did so,but

immediately went OH with his prize,which he pro

duced before the Akhund of Swat,Sayad Abdul

Ghaffur, at Saidu in Swat . But the Akhund— or

Babaj i , as he was reverentially called by his followerssent the animal back to theAssistant Commissioner

at Mardan . The Pathan,who was committed for

trial to the sessions court,endeavoured to make him

self out insane . At that stage I was sent to officiatefor Mr. Beckett , and had to record the medicalevidence , which substantiated the fact that theculprit was entirely free from any symptoms ofinsanity .

CHAPTER V

M ARDAN

1872- 1879

ABOUT the end of September 1872 orders came thatI w as to Officiate for one month in charge of the subd istrict of Yusufzai in place of Mr . Beckett

,proceed

ing on short leave , and on the 3oth of that monthI found myself at the small station of Hoti-Mardan ,the headquarters of that grand regiment the Corpsof Guides . This was my first meeting with a regiment with which I had the honour and pleasure ofbeing a ssociated off and on for the seven years thatI w as in charge of the sub -district . With them Itook part in the expeditions against Iskhakot , andthe Utman Khels of Naw edand

,Bucha

,and Rang

Miana , and we were together in the Afghan w ar of1879—81 , subsequent to the death of my muchlamented friend Cavagnari. From the period of myfirst meeting this regiment on October 1 , 1872 , to thedate of my leaving India in 1898 I was treated bythe officers with a kindness which could not havebeen exceeded had I really belonged to the corpsitself . In all respects and in all matters theylooked upon me as one of their own body . Thenames of Sir J . M cQueen , Sir Francis H . Jenkins

,

Campbell , Charlie Hunter, George Stewart ,WigramBattye , Hutchinson, Fred . Battye ,Walter Hamilton

,

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48 MARDAN on . v

Ajab did not seem to mind whether he was under a

cloud or not . At that time my chief anxiety wasthat he shoul d not , during my short tenure of thirtyOne days ’ offi ce , do any act or commit any offencewhich I could not dispose of myself but have to leaveto my successor to settle .

I have used the words remarkable man ’ in conjunction with Ajab Khan ’ s name , and the followingbrief history of his career , made out by me manyyears ago , will show that the words are not out ofplace . Mir Babu , the father of this family, was a

strong landowner in the Sudum Valley at the timethat F utteh Khan of Panjtar, and Sayad AhmadShah , Chief of the Hindustani fanatics , were at thezenith of their power, about the year 1827 . MirBabu j oined their combination , but did not fall withthem when the Pathans rose up and massacred SayadAhmad ’

s Hindustani followers . When the Sikhsbecame the rulers , Mir Babu was appointed a farmerof revenue on their behalf, but the date of his deathhas not been rightly noted . He left several sons

, all

of whom I knew, except Aziz Khan , who diedbefore I took charge of Yusufzai . Just before thecommencement of the Amb eyla campaign in October1863 the two brothers , Aziz Khan and Ajab Khan

,

were all powerful in the Sudum Valley, and whatadded to their influence w as that they were connectedby marriage with Nawab Khan of Bagra and

Zaidulla Khan of Daggar, the two families whichgave hereditary Khans to the whole of Buner .Through them all Buner coul d be induced to sidewith or against the British . For some reason themilitary strategic movement on our side of October 19,1863 , from Nowa Killa to Surkhawi

, and through

1872-79 THE BUNERWALS

the Amb eyla Pass into the Chamla Valley w as notrevealed to the brothers Ajab and Az iz . They considered that they had been deceived , and the sameidea came into the minds of the chiefs and people ofBuner

,strongly agitated as they already were by

the letters and exhortations of the heads of theHindustani colony at Malka .

‘ If you do not dosomething now

,your Bunerp arda has gone for ever

was the message sent by Ajab Khan by the mouthof his most trusted henchman to his friend and allyNasir Khan of Barkilli, then at Kanga , a Village inthe Chamla Valley. Nasir Khan, although he hadbut a small contingent of fourteen to fifteen menw ith him ,

commenced his attack, well knowing thatthe first few shots fired by him and the Chamlawalswould bring the whole of Buner down on the leftflank of the invading force . And it happenedexactly as he had anticipated . This fact and AjabKhan ’ s message were told to me in 1877 by the verysame henchman in whom he had reposed so muchtrust fourteen years before ; but in 1877 cruelty hadturned the faithful servant into a deadly enemy

, and

it was his aid and evidence which brought Ajab Khanto execution in the spring of 1878 .

After the termination of the Amb eyla campaignAjab Khan was not punished . A few years later thesmall hamlet of Pirsai was burnt by the Bunerwals

,

and the two brothers Aziz and Ajab,being suspected

of having a hand in the business,were brought into

Peshawar pending inquiry. As usual,no action was

taken against them , possibly on the grounds thatsufficient evidence could not be produced to warranta conviction . Aziz Khan died between 1869 and1872 , when Ajab fled with all his family into Buner

,

50 MARDAN CH . v

leaving several sons,the eldest being Ibrahim Khan

of Hamzakot .During the same October 1872 I had a visit from

Hukmat Khan , son of that fine old Buner chief ,Z aidulla Khan of Daggar . After the battle of Laluon December 15 , 1863 , when the combined forces ofthe confederate tribesmen were defeated by ourtroops operating in the Chamla Valley

,it w as agreed

with the Buner chiefs that they should go and

destroy Malka,the Hindustani outpost in the Amazai

country on the Mahaban Range ; and that ColonelR . Taylor and several other officers

,escort ed by the

Guide Infantry,commanded by Captain Jenkins

, and

local levies under Aziz Khan of Sudum,shoul d accom

pany to see the compact carried out . It was a ticklishundertaking

,and looked as if the Guides were being

sent to their destruction,for the surrounding hills

and the Chamla Valley swarmed with portions of theto men that had just been defeated at

Lalu,and more were coming from distant hills . But

there w as no fear or hesitation in a single man ofthat splendid regiment . What I am relating herewas told to me by officers of the Guides who sharedin this undertaking . As they moved into theChamla Valley (December 19, 1863) the tribesmengathered round them ,

occupying posts of advantage

and ready to attack the regiment . But out rushedan old Buner chief, having only one arm and deprivedof the sight of one eye , who shouted to the tribesmen

that the Buner j irga had given their word to destroy

M alka , and to take the English party there and bringthem back safe and sound , and they meant to carryout their compact , and if any wished to interfere they

,

must first of all fight the united strength

1872-79 IIINDUSTANI FANATICS 51

of Buner . This scene was acted and reacted timeafter time , even with the Amazais

,and in every

instance the one armed chief was successful,until

Malka was destroyed,and the English officers with

the Guides Infantry conducted back to Amb eyla

(December The one eyed and one armed chiefwas Z aidulla Khan of Daggar .

At the commencement of 1868 a large band ofthe Hindustani fanatics had come to Bajkatha in theDaulatzai section of the Buner country . They hadbeen invited to strengthen the party opposed to theAkhund of Swat

,headed by Z aidullaKhan and others .

Z aidulla made the first move by seizing some Swattraders passing through his lands . The Akhundreplied by mustering his followers and directing theBuner chiefs to kill the refractory Khans and turnthe Hindustanis out of Buner . The Salarzai and

Ashazai sections at once attacked Daggar,

and

Z aidulla Khan w as cut down by an individual namedZabta Khan

,Aya Khel of the Ashazais , who w as

introduced to me at Mardan during 1875 . I havedwelt on the fate of Z aidulla Khan in remembranceof his action five years before , and on his account awarm welcome was given by me to his son HukmatKhan .

In 1873 I offi ciated for several months at Mardan,

and with each experience my admiration of Aj abKhan ’ s strategy increased , as well as my dislike .Pirsai

,P allodheri

,Hamzakot , Beroch were the pro

perty of his brother,Aziz Khan

,now replaced by his

son Ibrahim . The first commanded the Pirsai Passleading to the Salarzai Bunerwals , which Aj ab hadsecured through the medium of the civil authoritieson the ground that his nephew was not strong enough

E 2

52 MARDAN as . v

to hold it . He was trying hard to get a footing intoBeroch which had two outlets into Buner and a safepassage to the Malandri Pass . His manoeuvres hadfrightened his nephew

,Ibrahim Khan , out of his

wits . He tried to oust another brother of his , PirMuhammad , from Baringan

, as it lay directly onthe road to the Malandri Pass half a mile from theBuner Border and a mile south of Beroch . NyamatKhan of Surkhawi, a village commanding the westernoutlet of the Amb eyla Pass , w as not in his goodbooks . He particul arly obj ected to the DeputyInspector of Police at Rustam . He wished to getcomplete control of the Pirsai

,Malandri

,and Am b eyla

Passes . Besides,some thirty outlaws under feigned

names were sheltered in his village and hamlets , andwhen a warrant w as served for the arrest of any

individual the usual reply w as , There is no man ofthat name living here .

’ However,knowing that for

the time being I w as only a bird of passage,Ajab

Khan did not attempt to crush me entirely till theyear 1877 .

Mukarrab Khan of Panjtar,ex-chief of the Khudu

Khels,styled by the officials at Lahore as that

stormy petrel of the frontier,

’

w as another pleasingcharacter connected with Yusufzai politics . TheKhudu Khel j irga , wearied out by twenty years ofincessant trouble at his hands , invited him to a meeting

,trusting to get rid of him in some w ay. Mukarrab

Khan,however

,w as not to be caught napping

,and

managed to massacre more than half the Council atthis very interview .

Having ofliciated five times during three years atMardan , I w as in hopes of getting the post permanentlywhen it became vacant but this was not to

1872-79 Az1z KHAN’S WIDow 53

be . Every year the tension with Ajab Khan hadbecome worse

,but the climax had not been reached

,

and luck had enabled me to smooth over all thetroubles raised by him. In December 1876 I w asappointed permanently to the charge of the Subdistrict of Yusufzai

,but before I could start from

Peshawar to take up the berth an event happened atAbazai with which I had nothing to do in any w ay.

Works had been commenced on the Swat Rivercanal a short distance above the fort (three miles) , andone night

,whilst the coolies were resting after their

labours and were sound asleep , a band of raiderscame down and killed some thirty or more of thesepoor creatures . A short time previous to this LordLytton

,Viceroy and Governor-General of India

,had

paid a visit to the Peshawar Valley .

Returning to the Mardan,it seemed apparent

that Ajab Khan had played his last trump card sincemy incumbency to ruin his nephew

,Ibrahim Khan .

He had induced Ibrahim ’ s stepmother to run awayfrom his keeping

,and with her two sons take shelter

with her brother,Hukmat Khan at Daggar . No

greater disgrace could have been offered by onePathan to another . Remembering my kindness tohim on former occasions

,Hukmat Khan sent his

private scribe and placed his Sister ’ s case entirely inmy hands . By the beginning of July 1877 thecase had been settled to her entire satisfaction ,and she had been located at P allodheri at her ownrequest

, and her brother’ s agent had been sent back

to report the result to Hukmat . The settlement wasduly notified to Maj or Cavagnari, who fortunately forall had come from Kohat to take up the duties ofDeputy Commissioner of Peshawar

,and he wrote on

54 MARDAN CH . v

July 12 I ful ly approve of all that you have donein effecting the return of Aziz Khan ’ s widow,

and

consider that you have managed the affair with greattact and j udgment . ’ I was rej oicing over this settlement and

,trusting for quieter times

,was having

chota ha zim'

w ith the officers of the Guides in theirgarden , when a trooper galloped in from Rustam withthe report that the Bunerwals had attacked theSudum villages . Handing the report to the officercommanding the Guides and asking his aid

,a detach

ment of cavalry under the gallant Wigram Battye

were soon on their w ay to Rustam ,followed by a

wing of the infantry . It w as a day to be remembered,for the overpowering heat of July and not a particleof shade in the eighteen-mile ride to Rustam . Butwhat made it more trying was that our own subjectsshould be allowed to play these pranks without any

punishment ever overtaking them . As w e rode up

the incline to the police station at Rustam,Ajab

Khan,standing with a long staff in his hands

,closely

scanned our faces . I must have revealed by minewhat was passing in my mind , for the District Superintendent of Police , coming up almost immediatelyafter us

,learnt from one of his police officials ‘ that

Aj ab was preparing for a flight,as the Sahib had

looked badly at him .

’ It w as true . He had placedthree of his sons in the towers at Pirsai , seven milesaway

,where they could not be touched . He and

another son were at Rustam ,and orders had gone to

get the family at Chargullai ready for a speedy flightinto Buner . It was a time to disguise one ’ s intentions

,so

,sending forAj ab , I did my best to solicit his

advice and to ascertain the reason of this raid , and

who could possibly have carried it out . He said he

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56 MARDAN on . v

of the P eshaw arValley— ( l ) the murder and woundingof the coolies at Abazai ; (2) just before my takingpermanent charge of Hoti-Mardan

,the strong Ranizai

village of Iskhakot had some of its men implicatedin a murder carried out in rather a high-handedmanner in a border village close to L andkhwar (landa ,

wet,khwar

,ravine

,implying a ravine with running

water in it) ; (3) this Buner raid . L uckily we hadCavagnari as Deputy Commissioner of Peshawar at

this period .

Within two days we had ample evidence to provethat the raid was the sole handiwork of Ajab Khan ,and a telegraphic report was made of this to Peshawar

,and C avagnari came out to Mardan and desired

to interview the Khan of Chargullai. Ajab by thistime w as happy in the belief that any suspicions thathad been originally created in our minds regardinghis complicity in this affair had long been removed

,

and“he w as now charging every impossible m an as

being the primary mover and cause of Bunerwals pouring down for the destruction of our peacefulvillagers . When he w as called up and told thatC avagnari w ished to see him at Hoti-Mardan hisface fell at once , and he made every possible excuseto evade obeying the order . However

,it was getting

late in the day, and as night would fall in aboutthree hours and it was hopeless to keep him in safetyat Rustam

,he was sent in w ith Ib rahim Khan

,of

Mardan , Inspector of Peshawar Police , and a suffi

cient escort to prevent his being rescued by hisretainers of Chargullai, and fortunately Mardan wasreached without any mishap . His son Akram at

Rustam was secured , and the Deputy Inspector ofPolice was sent to bring in Karam ,

Aslam, and a

1872-79 TRIAL OF AJAB KHAN 57

third son,who were holding Pirsai . Karam w as met

on the road and gave himself up , and w as sent intoRustam . Aslam

,from the towers of Pirsai

,fired on

the police and drove them back,and that same night

he set fire to Pirsai and fled to Chorb anda in theBuner country . Next morning he came down and

burnt another small hamlet,went back to Chorb anda ,

and retired into the heart of the Buner country .

Karam and Ak ram,sons of Ajab Khan

,were escorted

into Hoti-Mardan,and the whole valley

,wearied out

by the annoyances theyhad received at the hands ofthis family

,turned out to see the spectacle .

Being directed to make a full inquiry into thecase

,I w as fortunate enough to secure the services of

that trusted follower who,in October 1863 , had been

s ent by Ajab Khan with a message to Nasir Khan ofBarkilli asking him to attack our troops for the sakeof the Buner p ard a . All his former services hadbeen forgotten , and a long period of persecution hadturned him into a bitter enemy of Ajab Khan ’ s

,

and from hints given by him evidence w as forthcoming which left no doubt of Ajab

’

s guilt . After a

long and careful inquiry for the prosecution and

defence recorded in presence of the accused,Ajab

Khan w as committed to take his trial before theCourt of Session , and he was brought before Mr . (nowSir Donald) Macnabb

,Commissioner of the Rawal

Pindi division , who was specially deputed to Peshaw ar to undertake the trial . It lasted twenty-two days

,

and Aj ab w as sentenced to suffer the extreme penaltyof the law , subject to the confirmation of the order bythe Chief Court of the Panj ab . In a j udgment of150 pages , Mr . (now Sir H . M .) Justice Plowdenconfirmed the order of the Sessions Court

,and in

58 MARDAN on . v

spite of the utmost efforts of the barrister who tookup the appeal

,not a flaw could be discovered in

the evidence given in proof of the guilt of theaccused When the result of his appeal was

explained to Ajab in his solitary cell in the PeshawarJail

,and he w as told that on a certain morning he

w as to be taken out and hanged,he admitted that he

had brought the raid down,hoping to head it at the

border,stop and force the Bunerwals to return to

their country,and in this w ay regain the favour of

the British officials which he had lost by his conduct .He suffered the extreme penalty of the law in presence of a very large assembly of headmen of thePeshawar District , to whom ,

in a few short,impres

sive words,he admitted the justice of his punish

ment and warned them to avoid the ways which hadbrought him into trouble .

The expedition into the country of the Jaw akiAfridis during the winter of 1877—78 had kept C avagnari fully occupied , but he never left out of hismind that the Abazai outrage had to be punished ,and that Iskhakot and Buner had to be dealt withfor their misdeeds . The General Officer commandingat Peshawar required men and the assistanceof the heavy battery at that station to punish theUtman Khels , but it w as difficult to assemble solarge a force just then . Cavagnari proposed anotherplan of campaign . There w as a holy man

,named

Rukn-ud -din M ia (generally known as Mia Rukn) ,who had his home at a place called Sapri , consistingof two or three hamlets of twenty to thirty houseseach

,located in the hills about four to five miles in

the interior and about the same distance from theworks on the new canal . This tract

,lying between

1872-79 EXPEDITION To SAPRI 59

the Mohm ands and Utman Khels, was inhabited by

Mullagori ham sayahs (ham -sayah means a personor persons living under the shadow or protection ofsomeone else) . Mia Rukn was supposed to havebrought down the raid which caused such fatalexecution amongst the coolies . He had an evilreputation

,because he had several unholy sons who

were hand-and -glove with all the cattle thieves associated w ith the Peshawar District , and every animalstolen from certain quarters w as brought to Sapriand either sold or ransomed through their means ,they securing a certain share in each and everytransaction . It was thought that by capturing M iaRukn the settlement of the Utman Khel questionwould be rendered much easier . But how was thisto be done ? Cavagnari planned out the daringscheme himself

,and received sanction to carry it

out . He appeared at Hoti-Mardan one morning inFebruary 1878 , accompanied by Gholam MuhayuddinKhan

,Tehsildar of Daudz ai

,Mahbub Khan

,of Matta

Moghal Khel,and a Mia of Abazai

, own cousin tothat of Sapri , but a great enemy of his , the last twobeing told that they were required to assist me indisposing of a local dispute . Mahbub and the AbazaiMia came to see me before I coul d get an interviewwith C avagnari, and I nearly let the cat out of theb ag , not knowing at that time that they were not inthe secret . One look at the Mia ’ s face warned me ofmy danger in time , and I w as enabled to turn theconversation and obtain the reason of their comingto Hoti-Mardan . The secret w as well kept

,and at

sunset about 200 of the Guides cavalry and 30

infantry mounted on grass-cutters ’ ponies Startedfrom Hoti-Mardan and took the road through the

60 MARDAN on. v

desolate maira for the hill s north of Abazai,some

thirty- seven miles off in a bead-line . Here they dismounted from their animals , and , leaving them incharge of some thirty men

,clambered up the difficult

mountain-side , and by 3 A.M . were on the hill aboveSapri . The difficulty w as to find out the houseoccupied by Mia Rukn . First one vill age was tried,then another, and at last came the certain news thathe occupied a house near the mosque in the firsthamlet . Everything depended on his capture , aliveor dead . Cavagnari, Wigram Bettye , the Tehsildar ,and a small party got to the house and desired MiaRukn to come out . By this time the alarm had

Spread and the firing was very brisk , whilst friendliescame pouring in to the aid of the residents of Sapri .Mia Rukn

, finding that there was no escape , askedfor the Tehsildar to come near him , as he had a

request to make . When Gholam Muhayuddin Khangot quite close to him the holyman suddenly whippedout a small dagger and struck hard and straight atthe waist of the Tehsildar

,but the point of the dagger

glanced off a pocket-book of Maj or Cavagnari’

s

which he had asked him to carry for him . It was alucky escape . As the Mia moved to further actionhe was shot down by Duffadar Torrab az Khan , KukiKhel Afridi

,of the Guides cavalry. Killing some

five or six of the enemy, which now numbered some300 persons , the gallant Guides fought their wayleisurely to the level country, removing theirwounded

,got to their horses , and went into Fort

Abazai for that day, the officer commanding the forthaving received orders from the Brigadier-Generalcommanding the Peshawar District to give themevery aid and help in his power .

1872-79 ISKHAKOT SURPRISED 61

Cavagnari would not let me take part in thisaffair

, as Sapri w as too far from my charge . Hereceived great and deserved praise from the authori

ties for his little campaign , carried out with the

greatest dash and bravery ; but it did not bring theUtman Khel to their senses , and it required anotherlittle brush to bring them down on their knees .By the close of February 1878 the Jawaki war

w as over and the Guides infantry were back at HotiMardan , and on account of the moral effect it wouldproduce a batt ery of moun tain guns w as located wi thus for a period . Cavagnari, being too busy at Peshawar, directed me to arrange for the surprise ofIskhakot , in consul tation wi th the Comm andant ofthe Guides . Many were the consultations we heldsecretly as to how this w as to be done

,and above all

it w as necessary that not a breath of our intentionsshould be revealed to anyone

,since Banizai spies

swarmed in numbers at Mardan and in every vil lageto the Swat Border . It w as a hard nut to crack forthe following reas ons . It w as a strong village

,num

bering 500 armed men . It w as situated on a ravin ewi th perpendicular b ank s fi fty to sixty feet in height

,

with only two passages through it . The villagesnear to Iskhakot could supply some men

,irre

spective of any aid that might come from Swat . A

short time previous this Vill age had defied the Khanof D ir and thousands of his gathering, who had beencompelled to retire in disgrace . In M ay 1852 a forceof rank and file , with eight guns , under command of Sir Colin Campbell , had defeated theseRanizais and Swatis at this very spot

,burnt Iskha

kot to the ground , with a loss of eleven killed and

twenty-nine wounded on our side .

6 2 MARDAN on . v

We went to the Takht-i-Bahi hill one day, nomin ally to inspect the ruins and have a picnic , but inreality to examine the Iskhakot position with ourtelescopes and field -glasses . We came to the conclusion that the venture was risky with our smallforce of Guides infantry and cavalry

, about 700 strong ,but possible of success if we could only get

,without

a larming the residents , to a hill on the opposite sideof the village , which hill commanded Iskhakot . At

last the eventful day arrived,and C avagnari came

over from Peshawar . At sunset the Guides infantry,

cavalry,and guns of the mountain battery started

from Hoti-Mardan on this expedition , the secret ofwhich had been carefully kept , so much so thateven the guides to direct us through that tremendousravine at night time had to be secured at the lastmoment . Luckily

,one of them

,a Malik of Shergarh

,

knew every inch of the country , and besides was an

enemy of the Iskhakot Maliks . The plan of campaignw as as follows .Maj or (now Maj or-General) G . Stewart

,with two

companies of the Guides infantry and led by theMalik of Shergarh , was to go on in advance and getto the top of the hill on the other side withoutattracting attention . The remaining six companieswere to cross the ravine by the same ford, and movein a north-easterly direction on the village . Theguns

,under a suitable escort , were to remain on our

side of the ravine , about three - quarters of a mile

above our ford , and help us with their fire when thetime came . Maj or Wigram Battye was to remainwith the guns until dawn , and then trot up by thenorthern ford and take up his position on the northof the village to prevent the residents from escaping

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64 MARDAN on . w&

heard , on information which I believe , that at thevery moment we were there the huj 'ra contained

rupees , being a tax of four rupees per house ,collected for the Khans of Aladand and Thanah .

’ Itwas a kind way of showing to me that my estimatedfine of three rupees per house was not an excessiveone .The Utman Khels having failed to surrender

,the

same force which had operated against Iskhakot wasmoved up to Zam , near Tangi , some three milesnorth-east of Abazai , and encamped there for thenight . No one expected a fight

,for reports had been

brought in that on our appearance the people wouldat once give in . The bugles sounded at 3 A.M . on a

March morning, and we advanced inside the zone oflow hills leading into the southern Utman Khelcountry . Bundl es of dwarf palm

,dry wood

,and

grass lying about here and there showed that themen of the hills had taken the alarm and meantfighting . Nawedand lay on our left , but not a Signof man

,woman, child , or vill age cattle . One com

pany, under Hammond , was sent to the right , and Iwas deputed to go with it . We came across moreloads recently thrown down , then to the village ofRang-Mama and two Bucha hamlets still not a signof any human being or animals . The third Buchalay close to an incline that led up gradually to highlofty hills

,and here all the able-bodied males

,some

300 in number, were collected . Even then we didnot expect an attack, although circumstances all

looked the other way. Suddenly three men startedfrom the group and came rapidly in our direction

,

calling out ‘ Come & come &’ in Pashtu . Mahbub,

Khan of Matta Mughul Khel , again happened to be

1872-79 THE UTMAN KHELS 65

with me , and had evidently been employed by theTehsildar in negotiations with the Utman Khels

,for

he never expected any opposition , and replied to theopposite side , in Pashtu also

,

‘ Come on ; don’t be

afraid .

’ We were standing on a hillock,scattered

about but not under shelter, when Hammond , puttingup his field-glass to examine the advancing party,called

,Look out They are going to fire .

’ By thistime the leading man had approached to withineighty yards or less , when he raised his rifle and

fired at a Sikh soldier standing near me , the bulletentering at one ear and passing out at the other

,

the rifles of the other two men cracking almostSimultaneously . Then the three turned and fled

,

whilst the Sikh company opened fire on them . Thefirst man attracted attention most , and as he ran thebullets cast up the dust in front of him and belowhis legs

,and his escape was marvellous . Just

,how

ever,as he w as reaching the door leading into the

village,and when another two steps would have

brought him into a place of safety,a bullet caught

him in the middle of the back and knocked him over .The main body then advanced , the guns opened fire ,and at last the Utman Khels , having lost sixteenkilled and fearing that their villages would be burntdown

,gave in . We marched back to Zam

,encamped

there for the night,and the next morning reached

our quarters at Hoti-Mardan . We had only one man

killed,the Sikh aforesaid , who died within twenty

four hours of his being wounded .

Nothing would or could induce the Panjab Government to take active measures by force against theBunerwals . The Amb eyla campaign was still re

membered , and twenty years more were to passF

66 MARDAN on . v

away before the hollowness of the Buner bubble wasto be exposed by the events of 1898. When at lastthe Hindus of Buner, tired of a blockade that wasm ining them and was not touching the Pathan element , forced the whole Buner j irga to come in and

make terms , theAshazaiMaliks (the strongest sectionin Buner) , Saadat , Nawab , and Kadir, old menwho had fought against us at Amb eyla , came beforeme with the j irga and said Sahib

,up to and after

the fight at Lalu , every combination that we had

formed against you had been defeated and routed.

There was nothing to stop your troops entering theBuner country . Why did you not go there ?This was a question to which I coul d give no

answer.Thanks to my kind chief, Maj or Cavagnari, who

never failed to remember my small services,I was

five times complimented by the Government of thePanj ab

,on three occasions by the Secretary of State

for India,and the accompanying telegram ,

datedMarch 27 , 1878, was received from the CommissionerThe Lieutenant-Governor telegraphs that his Excellency the Viceroy desires congratul ations and warmestthanks to be conveyed to you and all concerned forthe successful issue of concluding Utman Khel affair . ’

C avagnari was the beau-ideal of a chief, and it was atreat and honour to serve under such a man .

‘D O

your best , and I will back you through thick and

thin .

’ Never mind reporting , but act ; when a man

gets into diffi culties he generally takes to reporting ,’

were phrases that Cavagnari in his genial way im

p lanted in my mind . He never forgot a j unior whohad once served him well , but would do all in his

power to push him on whenever the chance came in

1872-79 CAVAGNARI 67

his way. In this wise he made himself loved by hissubordinates , and his memory is dearly cherished bythose who had the privilege of being connected inoffi cial life with him . He was , in addition to othermatters , gifted with one quality which I havenever seen or met with in any other official . Hewould gallop off forty miles or so , go through somesuch expedition three of which I have described,hurry back to head-quarters ; then , without havingtaken or made any notes , he woul d sit down and

write his report of ten , fifteen , twenty pages offoolscap

, all in the best English , in a most beautifulclear hand, without a single blot or erasure , then postit off himself

, and the thing was done . The morningafter our fifty-mile trip to Iskhakot about seven of uswere in Wigram Battye

’

s room ,talking and making a

hideous noise,whilst seated at a table in the same

room was Cavagnari, writing out his report , clear,full

, and in the most beautiful penmansh ip , utterlyindifferent to the din going on round about him .

Had his precious life been spared for another year ortwo he would have asked the Government of Indiato bestow the frontier medal on those troops whichhad served with him in these three expeditions , andthey richly deserved it .

CHAPTER VI

KHYBER AND JELALLABAD

1879—1882

FAIz MUHAMMAD KHAN,ABABAKKAR KHEL GHIL zAI

,son

of that Muhamm ad Shah Khan who had custodyof LadyMacnaghten , Lady Sale , General Elphinstone ,and all our hostages at Badiabad given on the occasion of the disastrous retreat from Caubul in 1842 ,had stopped General Sir Neville Chamberlain ’ s mission advancing beyond Ali Masj id towards Dakkaen route to Caubul . At this period he had been madeCivil Governor of Al i Masj id by Am ir Sher Al i Khan,and the interview between him and Cavagnari, whenthe progress of the mission was barred, took place onSeptember 21

,1878 , at a small watermill on the

right bank of the stream between Lala Chena and

Ali Masj id . When war had been declared againstAm ir Sher Ali Khan in the beginning of November,Cavagnari was encamped at Jamrud with the cavalryand infantry of the Guides , l st Sikhs Panjab FieldForce

,a battery of mountain guns , while other troops

were collecting . I j ourneyed from Hoti-Mardan tosee him . I have worked well for you ,

’ I said,on the

YusufzaiFrontier ; takemewith you as yourassistant inthis coming campaign .

’

C avagnari reflected, and then

asked ,‘ In what way could I utilise your services ?

’

My answer was , Persian and Pashtu are as familiarto me as English . I could be useful at Dakka

,Jelall

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70 KHYBER AND JELALLABAD on. v1

was cut off. A few words will explain how this bodyof British troops got behind the enemy ’ s position at

Ali Masj id . The main road from Peshawar to Caubulpasses through Jamrud

,going almost due east to

west . After leaving Jamrud it passes through an

easy country, having low hill s on the left hand side ,and about the third mile it enters the hills at an

opening called Shadi Bagiar . A ridge from the loftyGhund-ghar on the left runs down to the road

,and

faces a similar ridge coming down from a prolongation of the Rhotas Range . The highway runs for ashort distance through the bed of a ravine , and thenj oins the road made by Colonel Mackeson in 1839—42 ,until it ascends to the Shagai plateau on the lefthand side

,and here Ali Masj id is seen for the first

time . Still going westward the road turns to theright

, and by an easy zigzag descends to the stream

(Al i Masj id) and runs along its side,and below Ali

Masj id goes up the waterway . The new road alongthe cliff was made by us in 1879—80, and here is thenarrowest pass of the Khyber, not more than 15 feetbroad

,with the Rhotas hill on the right hand fullyfeet overhead . Still progres sing , at about

400 yards from Ali Masj id, on the left hand side ,three or four large springs issuing from the rock givethe whole water supply to this quarter . Betweentwo and three miles comes the Malikdin Khel hamletof Katta Kushtia ; soon after Gurgurra is reached ,and then we are in Zakha Khel limits in the real‘ Khyber proper

,

’ until we come to the Shinwaris ofLandi Kotal , or more properly L oargi. The valleynow widens out

,and on either side lie the hamlets

and some sixty forts of the Zakha Khel Afridis .Here there is no stream , and the residents have to

1879-82 MACPHERSON ’S BRIGADE 71

depend on rainwater collected in tanks . The L oargiShinwari plateau is some seven miles in length , andthree in its widest part . Just here , above LandiKhana

,the old road was a very nasty bit . After

Landi Khana the great Caubul highway passes b etween low hills

,until it debouches on the Caubul River

and leads to Dakka . From Shadi Bagiar to LandiKhana the pass cannot be more than twenty milesin a direct line . When the first detachment of ourtroops returned from Caubul they marched from Ali

Masj id along the bed of the stream , by Lala Chena ,Jabb agai, Gagri , Kaddam ,

and Jam , villages of theKuki Khel Afridis

,to Jamrud ; but Colonel Mackeson ,

finding this way extremely difficult and unsuitablefor guns and wheeled traffic , made an excellent roadfrom Al i Masj id to Fort Jamrud through the hills ,the same that we now use . Starting from FortJamrud a footpath over the stony

'

country goes in a

north-west direction to Gudar, a small hamlet , thebirthplace and home of that grand old soldier Subadar Maj or Mauladad Khan , of the 2oth

Panjab Infantry,and passing round the eastern bend

of the hamlet crosses a fairly good perennial stream ,

winds through the Lashora Valley and Saprai belonging to the Kuki Khel Afridis

,passes between Rhotas

and the highest peak of the Tartarra range , LakkaSar

,and descends into the Khyber road at Katta

Kushtia . It was a most difficult road to traverse inthose days

,especially at night time .

At 4 p m . on the evening of November 20, GeneralMacpherson ’ s brigade commenced a turning movement , and about 4 p m . on the 2l st , after a march oftwenty-four hours

,the Guides infantry and l st Sikhs

found themselves at Katta Kushtia , and prepared to

72 KHYBER AND JELALLABAD on . v&

close the Pass against the retreat of the Afghantroops in Ali Masj id . This arrival at Katta Kushtiawas soon communicated to Faiz Muhammad Khan .

The Afridis had not then thrown in their lot with theAfghans , and in reality never did , but there was onegood man with them in Al i Masj id w ith a few of hisclansmen

,namely Malik Walli Muhammad Khan ,

Zakha Khel . During the night of November 21 heremoved the whole garrison by a road known to himand every Afridi , leading due South of Ali Masj id ,thence to the Bazar Valley, and by the Sassob aiPass into Jelallab ad . The rascally Zakha Khel de

prived the Afghan troops of about 800 of their rifles ,and on the morning of November 22 , 1878 , AliMasj id w as found vacated, and w as occupied by ourtroops .Reaching Dakka and requiring another assistant

to go on with him ,as Cunningham and Tucker were

posted between Jamrud and Dakka, Cavagnari made

a second application for my services . The reply wascouched in similar terms to the first telegram ,

‘Wecannot spare Warburton

,but you can have Jenkyn s .

’

At that time Jenkyns w as officiating as DeputyCommissioner of Peshawar

,and to enable him to go

on this new duty he was relieved by Maj or Hastings ,then carrying out the Kohat Settlement . A shorttime after this Cunningham went back to the Panj abSecretariat , and , a vacancy arising, Cavagnari made athird application on my behalf ; but the result wasthe same as before so far as I was concerned

,but

Maj or Conolly, Judicial Assistant from di stant DeraIsmail Khan , was sent up by the Panjab Government .The division under command of General Sir

Sam Browne advanced, secured Jelallab ad , and there

1879-82 WIGRAM BATTYE KILLED 73

it had a short rest . Cavagnari wrote to me , statingthat he had made several attempts to get me employed under him

,all of which had failed , but that

he intended continuing to apply whenever any furtherchance occurred . I also heard from the gallantWigram Battye— the only letter I ever received fromhim

,and which has been treasured ever since— to the

same effect,regretting that I had been stopped from

going up,but saying that Cavagnari had one other

idea,which he meant to carry out , with a view to

get me .Going in to see Mr . (now Sir Donald) Macnabb

,

Commissioner of the Division at Peshawar,I accident

a lly came upon Cavagnari, who had j ust ridden downfrom Jelallab ad

,and was proceeding to interview his

E x cellencyL ordLytton ,Viceroyand Governor-Generalof India

,then shortly expected at Lahore . Cavagnari

a ssured me that he had not forgotten me . Bad news,

however, now came pouring in & gallant WigramBattye had been killed at Futtehab ad

,charging at

the head of his cavalry, and so beloved w as he by hismen that his troopers carried the dooly that contained his body all the way to Jelallab ad , aboutfourteen miles . A squadron of the l 0th Hussars incrossing the Caubul River had some forty-six menand one officer drowned .

Living with Wigram Battye , and sharing hisquarters during the winter of 1877—78, I had a goodopportunity of seeing the way he treated and was

beloved by his men . The most troublesome troop inthe Guides cavalryw as the

‘Farsiw an’ troop &trouble

some in this way only—that they were a very smartand peppery lot

, and on any grievance which theyfelt individuals would come forward and ask to have

74 KHYBER AND JELALLABAD on . v&

their names removed from the regiment,73.e. they

wanted their discharge . A few words from Wigramand the most discontented man went away thoroughl yhappy . One night , as we were at dinner, news wasbrought to mess that a Sikh rissaldar

,who was dying

from a long and lingering illness,wished to see

Battye , who went , and we followed him to the dyingman ’ s bedside . He was one of the old school , whohad fought for the Khalsa against the British between1845 and 1848

,and

,having taken service with us on

the break up of the Sikh power,had fought equally

gallantly for the Queen Empress of India . With hislong white beard falling over his chest , the dyingsoldier seized Wigram

’

s hands and said,‘ Sahib , if

at any time that I have been serving under you Ihave committed any fault or made anymistake , pleaseforgive me now .

’

A telegram came from Maj or Cavagnari at Lahore ,directing me to meet him at Naushehra that sameevening

,as he had at last obtained sanction to my

being employed under him . So,riding to Naushehra ,

I had my dinner and retired to rest , as I knewCavagnari could not possibly be there before 3 or4 A .M . He arrived about the first hour , and , rousingme

,gave me instructions regarding my new duties

under him,and told me to hurry up from Hoti

Mardan as soon as possible . He then said ,‘ I must

start now,as I have to reach Peshawar and go off at

once to Gandamak,where I am shortly expecting the

Am ir Yakub Khan .

’ Going up to his dak-gharry tosee him make his start

,I found Ibrahim Khan of

Zaida perched on the seat by the coachman . Afterbreakfast I went back to Hoti-Mardan

,packed up my

things,and received the usual Panjab notification

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76 KHYBER AND JELALLABAD on . v1

and the officers in command of them have no local ex perience .

The removal of Captain Warburton w ill therefore leaveYusufzai w ithout any officer—civil or military—who knows

and is known by the headmen of the trans-b order trib es .

This b eing the case, the withdraw al of the only officer

availab le w ith competent local knowledge is to b e seriouslydeprecated .

My dear Warburton ,—I send you this ex tract from a

letter sent to me by Government , as I think it will satisfyyou that it is not from any w ant of appreciation of yourmerits , or from any intention of hindering your success in

your professional career that the Panjab Government haveprevented your going to Cavagnari. Now that the hot

w eather is coming on you shoul d b e more reconciled to staying at M ardan .

Yours , (Signed) D . C . MACNABB .

Maj or Cavagnari then urged that the control ofthe Khyber Pass portion

,from Fort Jamrud to Landi

Khana , should be managed by the Government ofthe Panjab

,and in this wise the Khyber Pa ss was

transferred from the Government of India to that ofthe Panjab in April 1879 . Maj or Hastings w as sentup to Landi Kotal as Political Officer of the Khyber

,

Mr . W . R . Merk going as his assistant to Ali

Masj id, whilst Mr . H . B . Beckett,Deputy Com

missioner Dera Ghazi Khan , was transferred in thesame capacity to take Hastings ’ s place at Peshawar .The Afridis , urged on by mul lahs and agents of Am irSher Ali Khan

,had brought down a lashkar

,or army

,

as they called it, on AliMasj id , about three days afterit had fallen into our hands (about November 25 ,

They attacked our troops one night,fired

into our camp,and then went back to their homes

,

as they had no heart for fighting against us . All the

1879-82 TREATY OF GANDAMAK 77

mischief that was being done was the work of theZakha Khel marauders living at Ilacha

,Karamna ,

Barg , and in the Bazar Valley . This will be dealtwith later on

,when I come to mymanagement of the

Khyber charge .The Treaty of Gandamak was signed towards

the end of May 1879, and all the troops—Britishand native—were hurried back out of the Jelallab adValley towards Peshawar . Cholera followed in theirfootsteps

,and tainted every encampment from Jelall

abad to Abb otab ad , to Murree , and past Rawal Pinditowards Lahore . The Guides cavalry and infantryreturned to Hoti-Mardan .

Jenkyns, who , as Senior Assistant to Sir L . Cavagnari , had come to make arrangements for the marchof the m ission to Caubul from Hoti-Mardan via

Peshawar, Kohat , and Kurram,said to me in the

kindest manner,‘ I have got the berth Cavagnari

meant for you ; as I served under him, and you

were not allowed to come , he could not throw meover . ’ It was impossible to resist thanking him

,

and I wished him every good fortune . Besides, a

friend had written to me from Simla , and impartedto me as a secret that Cavagnari had asked for meto go with him to Caubul as his private secretary.

I had , therefore , still h0pe of j oining their party—a

hope which,now recalled in the light of after events

,

was fortunately, perhaps , not fulfil led.

Themonth of July came round , and Mr . Macnabb,

our Commissioner, had gone away to Rawal Pindi ,and his place had been taken by Colonel W . G .Waterfield

,j ust returned from Kurram . I received

a letter from the latter asking me into Peshawar,

and when I appeared before him he said,

‘ The

78 KHYBER AND JELALLABAD 011 . v1

Lieutenant-Governor of the Panjab offers you the

post of Political Officer Khyber . Will you accept it ?’

I,of course

,said

,Yes . ’

I then learnt that Mr .M erk had left Al iMasj id , and had gone away strickendown by a b ad attack of fever

,and that Maj or

H astings w as anxious to take furlough to Europe ,and hence the chance of my taking over his workand duties . On July 31, 1879, I reached Fort Jamrudin the evening

, and met Maj or Hastings,who had

c ome down from Landi Kotal early that morning . I

had not been inside the fort since my one visit some

years before with Mr . W . H . Smith,M .P . But what

a change was now going on & In every directionofficers

’ quarters and barracks were being put upwith lightning rapidity . We were entertained by theofficers of the l oth Bengal Lancers , and the heat inthe verandah as we had our evening meal was something to be remembered , but I felt it more as it wasmy first day of initiation . Early next morning werode to Ali Masj id, had lunch , and in the afternoonj ourneyed on to Landi Kotal , which was reachedabout 6 P .M . August 1, 1879. At that time therew ere two British and three Native Infantry regiments ,three mountain batteries , two companies of Sappersand Miners , a tr00p of the 10th Bengal Lancers , twoc ompanies of Khyber Jezailchies , and a goodly staff

,

with officers of the Commissariat and Ordnance De

partments , located at the plateau . The dreadedcholera was in camp , and every morning and eveningone or two victims were consigned to the cemetery ;and the funeral procession , from the time it left thehospital mortuary to the time the body was consignedto earth , was clearly visible to all . But what hadmade the place so unhealthy ? Irrespective of other

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80 KHYBER AND JELALLABAD on . v1

In spite of the large garrison at Landi Kotal, andthe abundance of picquets and sentries thrown outevery night, nothing was safe from the depredationsof Shinwari , Shilmani

, and Zakha Khel thieves .Nearly every night some tent was entered and

property carried ofi . Firing, as might be expected ,

was brisk, but the bullets seemed to cause moreannoyance to the sleeping garrison than to the sneaking thief

, who escaped in the darkness . The Government of the Panjab urged on us to hasten down all

the Maliks who had thrown in their lot with theBritish Government, as well as those who had sharedthe fortunes of the Amir of Afghani stan

,together

with full complete j irgas from every tribe sharing inthe allowances of the Khyber Range , and

,having

brought them down to Peshawar,to see whether some

arrangement could not be made with them by whichpeace could be assured throughout the Khyber fromone end to the other at all seasons of the year .Four of the most important Maliks—Ahmad

Khan , Sipah , Sarfaraz Khan , Malikdin Khel,Abdulla

Nur,Kuki Khel

,andWalli Muhammad Khan

,Zakha

Khel—had thrown in their lot from the very beginningwith the Am ir ’ s party, because it was from thatquarter that they had been getting their Khyberallowances whenever these , at rare intervals

,were

doled out to the tribesmen , and because they had nofaith in the continuance of any British policy . TheCaubul allowances were certainly small, but the tribesmen got something in the end ; on the other hand ,they did not know how long the war would last

,and

whether at its close the British Sarkar would notthrow them over if it suited the Government todo so . The lessons of the first and second Afghan

1879-82 MASSACRE OF CAVAGNARI’S MISSION 81

wars were firmly implanted in their minds and

memories . After a good deal of needful pushingand urging , every Malik or chief and every tribalj irga , fully represented , marched down to Peshawarand by September 6 , 1879, Hastings first , and then I ,j oined them ,

and the work of arrangement commenced .

Just then came the terrible news from Al i Khelin the form of a telegram telling us that on September 3

,1879 , the Residency at Caubul had been

attacked , and that Sir L . C avagnari, Jenkyns , WalterHamilton

,Ambrose Kelly

,with all the escort of

Guides cavalry and infantry, servants , etc .

,had

been massacred , and the buildings destroyed by fire,

after being plundered by Yakub Khan ’ s soldiery andthe Caubul mob .

This crushing calamity fell like a thunderbolt onthe Indian world , and every one deplored the deathof our brave and gifted Envoy

,of gallant Walter

Hamilton (just aged twenty-one) , and of those companions who had made a defence against overwhelming numbers—a defence never to be forgotten solong as Englishmen know how to admire and

reverence such feats as the Guides performed onthat sadly to be remembered day. To me

,personally

,

C avagnari’

s loss was irreparable . I had the greatestadmiration for the man and his splendid abilitiesas a public servant of the State ; but on personalgrounds I had every reason to deplore the death ofone who had always stood my friend and had helpedme whenever opportunity offered in his way.

Hastings had been appointed to the Political Staffof General Roberts , commanding the troops inKurram

,and as they were to move as early as pos

G

82 KHYBER AND JELALLABAD 011 . v

sible in advance of the Jelallab ad Field Force he leftat once for Kohat , en rou te to Kurram

,to j oin there .

For twenty-two days after his departure the arrangements with the Afridis were left in my hands , and onSeptember 28 , 1879, I sent up my final report to theCommissioner for the information of Government .My friend Malik Walli Muhammad Khan , ZakhaKhel

,had got what he wanted

,and what was his

right,viz .

,the Maliki (or chieftainship) of half the

Zakha Khel Afridis,the most important tribe in the

Khyber Range , mustering some armed men ,every individual being a thief, raider, and robber bybirth

,inclination

,and habit carried down for many

centuries . The rival chief was Malik Khwas Khan .

Years after this arrangement with the Khyber Afridis ,which was the best that could be made underthe circumstances , Walli Muhammad Khan , whenever charged by me w ith any neglect of my orders ,would say, When I w as in want and trying to getmy Maliki , did you not bring out a b ag of rupees andsay, Here is money for you to spend and strengthenyour party if you are in want of cash And did younot secure for me my Maliki ? And am I going towork against you after what you have done for me ?After an experience of this individual extending overeighteen years I can say he was always a good and

staunch friend to me .

I was appointed Chief Political Officer withGeneral Sir R . 0 . Bright , commanding the Jelallab adField Force but as we were not expected to advanceuntil carriage and transport had been secured

,we

were not much hurried in our movements . Havingcompleted my work at Peshawar, I went up to LandiKotal

,Mr . Merk having been sent to me as assistant

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84 KHYBER AND JELALLABAD 011 . v1

kicking , and , the sanction being received , the moneywas made over to them

, and this made them happy.

Mr . Cunningham , from the Panj ab Secretariatthe same who had been appointed under Sir L .

C avagnari in November 1878—having arrived at

Landi Kotal to take my place,I gave over charge

about October 10, 1879 , and j oined General Bright’

s

camp , then pitched at the same locality . A telegram from the Foreign Secretary hastened my departure in advance to Jelallab ad

,for the purpose of

making an inquiry into the revenue returns of thatdistrict

,and when I reached Jelallab ad

,I found

General (now Sir Charles) Gough , with portions ofhis command

,including the Guides cavalry and

infantry, encamped there . I pitched my tent nearthe camp of the Guides

,and w as made at home at

their mess . Colonel (now Sir Franc is H .) Jenkins introduced me to SardarAbdul Kha lik Khan , Barakzai ,Of Besud (brother Of Sardar M addat Khan

,of the

same place) , who just at that moment happened tobe in his camp . Both these brothers had done goodservice for Sir L . C avagnari in the previous spring ,and to each a written acknowledgment had beengiven

,recommending him to the good graces of all

Englishmen . The Besud fam ily consisted Of fourbrothers ; of these Sardar M addat Khan was thesenior

,then came SardarAbdul Khalik (Khalo) Khan ,

both these being extremely handsome men , about sixfeet high

,and of splendid appearance . Next day, the

General,with the Guides and other troops then pre

sent at Jelallab ad , moved away towards Gandamak,

their places being taken by other troops from therear .My work about ascertaining the revenues of the

1879-82 MUHAMMAD HASSAN KHAN 85

district was lightened by discovering that a goodsized volume had already been lately written byJenkyns , who was killed at Caubul , giving a com

plete list of everything that one could wish for .This work had been printed at the Foreign OfficePress

,and all that I had to do was to draw the

attention of the Foreign Secretary to it,and to ask

that several copies should be sent down for our use .

In a few days General Bright and his Staff appearedat Jelallab ad

,a large camp was formed there , and we

were looking forward to a merry Christmas,and

dreaming of happy times , little thinking of whatwoul d actually take place before December 25 cameround .

Sardar Muhammad Hassan Khan (the same whocame to England with Shahzada Nasrulla Khan in

grandson of Sardar Futteh Khan, was then

Governor Of Jelallab ad on behalf Of Am ir YakubKhan

,to whom he was deeply and devotedly attached .

An d with some reason . They had been brought uptogether in their childhood at Herat . When AmirYakub Khan

,trusting to his father ’ s word

,came

from Herat to Caubul , and was thrown into a cell toundergo nearly six years ’ imprisonment

,the cell ad

j oining his had been allotted to Muhammad HassanKhan

,who was sent in chains from Mashad to Herat

,

and thence to Caubul . Amir‘

SherAliKhan ’ s flight toMazar-i-Sherif in 1878was the immediate cause of therelease of Amir Yakub Khan and of Sardar Muham

mad Hassan Khan,who was then appointed Governor

Of Ghuzni. After the signature of the treaty of Gandamak

, Am ir Yakub Khan transferred him in thesame capacity to Jelallab ad

,and he rode on one horse

from Ghuzni to Caubul,interviewed his master

,

86 KHYBER AND JELALLABAD on . vr

remaining some days there,and then rode the same

animal in twenty-four hours to Jelallab ad . Feelingassured that if Am ir Yakub Khan was to remainAmir of Afghanistan , his Governor of Jelallab adwould be a better man and far more useful than any

nominee that we could appoint,it was urged on the

General to accept him a s Governor, and receive him

under a guard of honour at a public durbar—whichwas done . But Sardar Muhammad Hassan Khan ’ sfeelings were too much tied up in his master ’ s cause ,in which he had fought and suffered so much formany years ; and , although he became exceedinglyfriendly with me , and opened his mind freely to me

on every subj ect , he still watched closely every movethat was going on at Caubul with feverish anxiety .

He worked hard for us in every way, hoping thatAm ir Yakub Khan might yet remain as Am ir ofAfghanistan , and he would thus have pleased bothhis master and us . I will quote one special instancewhere his services were extremely useful to us . A

large caravan of camels belonging to the Kaka Khelsof the Ziarat Kaka Sahib , near Naushehra , werecarrying warm clothing from Peshawar for LordRob ert s

’

s troops at Caubul ; the winter was comingon

,and the clothing was urgently required there .

The caravan reaching Dakka would not take shelterinside our fort under the guard of our soldiery

,but

went on to Girdi Sarkani, a small hamlet on the rightbank of the Caubul River, and threemil es further west .The Kaka Khels , being looked upon as holy men

,

deeply reverenced by all Mussulmans , felt they wouldbe quite safe anywhere , especially at Girdi Sarkani .That same night , however, a band of Sangu KhelShinwari raiders came down , secured the camels ,

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88 KHYBER AND JELALLABAD on . v1

large quantity of stolen clothing in their far-awayhills merely on the mandate Of the Governor Of Jelallabad .

At the request of the General,the Governor and

I went away from Jelallab ad to see where and in whatquarters forage could be procured . As w e left the cityby the gate that faces Caubul

,the head priest of the

Hindu community met us, and presented me with

three to four cardamums . For three days and threenights I w as the guest of Sardar Muhammad HassanKhan in a Ghilzai fort , near Rosab ad , and entirely inhis power . I went one evening to see the Generalwho had j ust come to Rosab ad , and the next daywe purposed returning to Jelallab ad . As the Governor and I rode into our fort

,the messenger from

Caubul followed in behind us . The Sardar was indaily communication with Caubul

,and it is very

strange that he was not apprised of Amir YakubKhan ’ s coming down to Jelallab ad

,which actually

happened the next day. More curious still was itthat

,knowing I w as in Sardar Muhammad Hassan ’ s

power,without a single man to protect me , I was not

told of what w as going to happen on the morrow. If,on the other hand

,Sardar Muhammad Hassan Khan

knew the evening before , when we went together toRosab ad , that his master and friend w as being broughtdown as a prisoner, he certainly dissembled his

feelings in a wonderful way. Aft er dinner we playedchess

,and when I retired to rest his manners never

showed the agony that must have been gnawing at hisheart . He might have had me carried off or killedwhilst in this lone Ghilzai fort surrounded by hisfollowers

,but he trusted and treated me as an

honoured guest,whose safety must be assured .

1879-82 INTERVIEW WITH YAKUB KHAN 89

The next morning Sardar Muhammad HassanKhan and I

,with a few Of his followers , rode up to

the battlefield of Futtehab ad , and examined the spotwhere Wigram Battye had charged at the head ofhis squadron to save the guns . Coming back, I sawan escort of the Carabiniers and 24thPanj ab Infantryout

,and learnt that they were waiting forAmirYakub

Khan,who was being brought down from Caubul

under an escort . This forced me to hurry ourmovements

,and the Governor

,wanting to return to

Jelallab ad by Sultanpur,turned off the road to Can

tonments,whilst I kept to the main route

,and got in

advance of the cavalcade escorting the ex-Amir .Turner

,of the 2nd Panj ab Infantry

,w as in charge

of the party, and sundry demands had to be madefor the comfort Of the royal captive

,and

,curious to

relate , the Governor of Jelallab ad had it in his powerto let him have a whiff from a

‘ kalian ’ that oncebelonged to him in the Old days

,when he w as ruler

over the Herat province . After being introducedto Amir Yakub Khan

,and seeing that all his wants

were satisfied, I ventured to ask a question harking back to the time when Arminius Vamb ery, afterhaving seen Khiva and Bokhara

,arrived at Herat

,

and appeared in Sardar Muhammad Yakub Khan ’ spresence . Mr . Vamb ery in his book states that ,having given the benediction , he sat down next tothe Sardar, and pushed his wazir to one side with a

good deal of violence . The young Sardar, peeringinto his face , said, Wa lla an billa

,F aringhi hasti.

’

This Vamb ery denied , and the conversation was thenchanged . Having reminded Amir Yakub Khan ofthe above circumstance , I asked him if he had identified Mr . Vamb ery as a European

, and on what

90 KHYBER AND JELALLABAD on . v1

grounds . The ex-Am ir said,I was seated in an

upper chamber,watching a parade of my troops , and

the band w as playing on the Open ground in front ofmy window . I noticed a man heating time to themusic of the band with his foot . I knew at once thathe must be a European , as Asiatics are not in thehabit of doing this . Later on

,when this man came

into my darbar,I charged him with being a F eringhi,

which he denied . However,I did not press the

matter,being afraid that if suspicions had been roused

against him,his life might not have been safe .

’ Thesame circumstances had been told to me by SardarMu

hammad Hassan Khan six weeks before Amir YakubKhan ’ s arrival at Jelallab ad . It may be noted thatSardar Muhammad Yakub Khan and he were both atHerat when Mr . A . Vamb ery j ourneyed there after hiswonderful adventures and vicissitudes in CentralAsia . Strange it must seem to have associated hourlyfor months throughout his dangerous travels in Khivaand Bokhara w ith his darwesh companions

,to have

shared in all their meals,and j oined in all their

prayers , and yet to have defied all detection ; and

then to have been discovered by one keen-eyedobserver for beating time with his foot to the musicOf an improvised European band playing on the glacisof the fortress of Herat

Amir Yakub Khan went away the next morningtowards Peshawar, and after this it seemed certainthat nothing would keep Sardar Muhammad HassanKhan with us . He swore on the holy book that hewas going to remain true , but this was only to gaintime . In a friendly w ay he w as told that if he found

his duties irksome and intolerable , I would representhis case to the General, and ask him to let the Sardar

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92 KHYBER AND JELALLARAD on . v1

during the hours of darkness . Nothing could orwould move the kakars

,and there they remained .

As b ad luck would have it,a band of Mandezai

Shinwari raiders came down that very night and cutup these unfortunate men , the tidings of the sad

event reaching us about 9 A .M . on Christmas morning . A party of cavalry was sent out to makeinquiries , and the information brought back was thatthe Mandezai raiders from the hill s had passed thenight of the 23rd at a village called Banda-KaddiRoghani

,the residents of which had fed and sheltered

the gang,knowing the purpose for which they had

le ft their homes at the base of the Safed-Koh mounta ins . This w as the village to punish , for there wereno troops available to go against the M andezais inthe hills

,who mustered fighting men . I w as

called up,and in my presence the reporting Officer

told General Bright that the Offending village w assome seven to eight miles away

,and had no defences .

I was then asked my opinion as to the force necessaryto surround and take the village , and I said,

‘ If theplace is situated as has just been reported, a coupleof guns 200 infantry and some cavalry would beenough . I had not been out myself, so knewnothing about the village or its capabilities . It wasdeemed necessary to strike at once for offence ordefence . With considerable difficulty, 100 Europeans and 100 Native infantry, with two guns and

a troop of Carabiniers , under command Of ColonelMackenzie , commandant of the 3rd Bengal Cavalry,were collected at Barikab in about two days . We tookSardar Khalo Khan with us , and disclosed to himthat we were ordered to go to Banda-Kaddi-Roghanithat night , surround it , and bring so many of the

1879-82 PUNITIVE EXPEDITION 93

headm en away prisoners , because they had fed and

sheltered a band of Shinwari raiders who had cut upour doolie-bearers . The Old gentleman was veryangry

,said our force was far too weak , and that we

were going on a fool ’ s business . We replied thatorders had to be carried out .At 1 A.M .

,with a troop of Carabiniers , two guns of

M aginnis’

s battery,200 infantry, and a troop of

17th Bengal Cavalry , we commenced our marchfrom Barikab

,and just before sunrise our small force

was drawn up on the rounded plateau to the west ofand commanding the valley where the village waspresumed to be . A thick impenetrable fog hid everyhamlet in the Rud—i-Hissarak Valley . As the sun ’ srays gradually dispelled the mist , and portions of thevalley in our neighbourhood became visible , the troopof Native cavalry was sent to get behind the village

,

and prevent the residents from escaping to the hi lls .Soon the whole valley lay exposed to our view , and

my heart made a great jump at seeing the trap wehad got into . Banda -Kaddi—Roghani consisted ofthree villages

,each with high thick walls and two

towers,and as far as the eye could see towards the

Safed-Koh , the whole valley was closely packed withstrong

,defensible forts . By the route we had come

from Barikab lay three or four large Open villageswith no towers or high walls , but in case of a retreatbefore the enemy the residents could have made itvery hot for us in such a broken country

,full of

ravines and water-channels . Sardar Khalo Khansent his special agent with a few of his men to tellthe villagers that we had come with men

, and

if ten of the headmen did not come in to us at once,

their villages would be levelled with the ground.

94 KHYBER AND JELALLABAD on . W

They found the residents in their houses,mostly in

their beds,and pointing to our array on the hillside ,

the guns brought into action,levelled at their towers ,

and the cavalry in their rear,they delivered our mes

s age and demanded a speedy answer . With my fieldglass I carefully watched the proceedings . First Of allthere was intense excitement amongst the community

,

one or two swords were drawn , a few rifles handled,then they all sat down near the fire for a conference

,

and one man brought a hookah,

’ which was passedround

,and every one took a whiff in turn . I closed my

g lasses with a sigh of intense relief ; for I then knewthat the game was up . The ten captives soon appeared

,

and we started on the return j ourney to Barikab .

Gradually the district became more peaceful,and

the influence Of Sardar M addat Khan and his friendsin the valley began to be exercised in the right direction . The Barakzai Sardar was a well -meaning man

,

entirely in the hands of his more able and clevererbrother

,who knew as well as any man in the world

how to look after number one . It was SardarKhalo Khan ’ s own folly that in the end ruinedhimself and all hi s brothers .Orders now came from Caubul for a brigade to

move into the Laghman Vall ey, and see what couldbe done with the residents of that turbulent district

,

and our march commenced early in the beginning of1880. General Bright and some of his Staff came ona s spectators , and I w as directed to Open up communications with the people of the country , and seewhat supplies and forage could be obtained for ourtroops and transports . We crossed from the rightto the left bank of the Caubul River by the Daroutaford

,and after going for about half a mile

,recrossed

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also saw the tomb of Muhammad Shah Khan , at onetime lord of Badiabad

,who had treated our ladies and

other prisoners with great harshness . Badiabad hadbeen destroyed by order of Amir Dost MuhammadKhan ; and when the great Ghilzai chief died, and

was buried in this ziarat , so hated was his name ,and so powerful were the enemies that he had made ,that twice his body was exhumed out of the precinctsof the most sacred shrine in Afghanistan

, and throwninto the open . He was buried for the third time

,and

a guard placed over the tomb night and day to proteet his remains from further insul t . On my representations , the General had spared Faiz MuhammadKhan ’ s villages which lie near Badiabad (MuhammadShah Khan was father to Faiz Muhammad Khan ,who had the interview with Cavagnari near AliMasj id in the Khyber on September 21, and

later Faiz Muhammad sent in a verbal message tome that he would never aft er this raise his hands

against the British Government . As Sardar AsafKhan and I were leaving the shrine , the headkeeper rushed up to us in great alarm and said,Here is a Sahib taking a picture Of the ziarat , andhe has only two men with him . This is Thursday,and hundreds Of Talib s wil l come and say theirprayers here this day ; they maymob the gentleman ,and then you will come and hang me . Please takehim away .

’ We found the intruder to be Mr . M cNair,

of the Survey Department , quietly sketching , withtwo troopers of the 17th Bengal Cavalry behind

him ,but we persuaded him to come away with us .

Some days afterwards I sent a few men with Mr .

McNair to conduct him over the Adrak BadrakPass , and having effected this with safety, he

1879-82 EXPEDITION A SU CCESS 97

appeared before the General commanding the Gandamak Brigade

,then on tour near Seh-Baba

,much to

that officer ’ s astonishment,who would hardly credit

that he had accomplished such a dangerous tripwithout a large escort . Mr . McNair

,some few years

later, disguised himself as a native doctor,and went

with Hussain Shah , Mia Kaka Khel , through Swat toDir and the confines of Kafiristan

,and came back

after many hairbreadth escapes . A rascally KakaKhel enemy of Hussain

’

s disclosed to the people whohe really was , and it required all ‘ Shu Baba ’ s ’

influence to shelter his life . When I saw him lastat Peshawar, having escaped all dangers in Swat andDir

,he was trying to induce the Panjab Government

to punish Rahat Shah Mia , the Kaka Khel referredto ; but before he could succeed in his Obj ect Ithink he died from a severe attack of fever.Our expedition into Laghman was presumed to

have been a great success , insomuch that it hadattracted all the chiefs and Sardars to us

,and cer

tainly they and the people became very friendlytowards our Government . When the troops cameback to Jelallab ad and were withdrawn from Laghman

,most of the headmen followed us

,and we

tried to repay them in a measure for their attentionto us . In M ay 1885 , when I went down to LandiKhana , to hand over the heavy guns presented toAmir Abdur Rahman Khan by the Government

,I

was brought face to face with Sartip MuhammadHassan Khan

,the commandant of the Kha sadars at

Dakka . This man ’ s home w as in a village justabove Tigri in the Laghman Valley

, and he was oneof the few men who kept aloof from us when we

went up there in 1880. This he revealed to meH

98 KHYBER AND JELALLABAD on . VI

in a bold,offensive way ; then after a pause he

said,

‘ The Amirs of Afghanistan never could gettheir revenues from Laghman without sending a

large force to overawe its residents how was it , then ,that you managed to go all over that district , andsecure all that you required

,without any opposition ?

I left the Sartip to answer the question himself .A severe attack of dysentery and breakdown of

system compelled me to go before a medical board ,which sent me back to Peshawar in the month ofApril 1880. But before this happened

,most of the

notables in the Jelallab ad Valley, more especially Al iKhan

,Dehgan of Pesh-Bolak, had Opened their minds

to me on the subj ect of our policy in Afghanistan ingeneral and at Jelallab ad in particular . The languageused by one and all was of this nature & ‘ Sahib ,when Maj or C avagnari first came here we j oinedhim and threw in our lot with the British Government

,thinking you were going to remain here for

good . But you cleared out on the first opportunity,and left us to our fate . For six months we livedwith rifles in our hands

,dreading every moment that

our last day had come— not that Amir Yakub Khanoppressed us

,but that our real enemies

,our cousins

,

heirs to our landed property, were b ounding on theMullahs to attack and kill us because we had beenfriends to the F eringhi , so that our cousins mightget hold of our houses , lands , and possessions . Youhave come again , and we have once more j oined ourfortunes to yours . Tell us now what your Government intends to do in the future . Are you going to

forsake us once more , and leave us in the hands of

our enemies ?My reply was—and I could give no other—that I

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100 KHYBER AND JELALLABAD cu . v1

Folkestone . The day after my arrival in London , Iwas taken before the late Sir Richard Quain , whocarefully examined me for nearly an hour . On myOffering a fee

,Sir Richard accepted one guinea and

refused to take a penny more,on the ground that

I had been fighting the battles of my country . Nextday he came to see me as I was laid up with a touchof Peshawar fever

,and on my wife Offering a fee he

shook his head and passed downstairs . It is rightthat such acts should be remembered and noteddown . Extreme hard work and exposure inJelallab ad and Laghman brought on an illnesswhich kept me ten months in the hands of variousmedical advisers

,and confined me for eleven weeks

to my bed in the home hospital at Fitzroy House ,Fitzroy Square . Time after time news came fromthe direction Of Jelallab ad that after my departuretroubles had recommenced in that quarter Of Afghanistan

,proving once more that to deal with Afghans

Officers must be employed who have knowledge oftheir languages

,customs

,and ways .

CHAPTER VII

RETURN TO THE KHYBER

1882—1884

ON February 16 , 1882 , I was back again in charge ofthe Khyber Pass arrangements . But what a changeit was from the old days , when the Pass wasoccupied by British and native troops , whensmall local convoys went up and down at statedperiods under a regular guard , and no armed Afridinot in our service was permitted to be seen in thedefile Kafilas or caravans worked regularly betweenPeshawar and Caubul , the modus op erandi in entering and going out of the Khyber Pass limits being asfollows . The caravans from the direction of Caubulwere escorted by the Am ir ’ s khasadars from Dakkato Landi Khana every Monday and Thursday morning in the week, and were met there by a party ofour Khyber Rifles

,who brought them to Landi Kotal

by the evening, and they there passed two nights .H .H . the Am ir ’ s limits ended at Tor-Kham , about

yards from Landi Khana on the road toDakka ; but as there was no water to be had at TorKham , and there were gallons availableevery twenty-four hours at Landi Khana , the Amir

’ slevies had been allowed to exchange the caravans atLandi Khana before they went back to Dakka . Theconvoys proceeding to Caubul left the city of Peshawar every Monday and Thursday

,and by sunset

102 RETURN TO THE KIIYBER &m. vu

collected at Jamrud,paid their tolls

,and passed those

nights there . Every Tuesday and Friday the ca ravan

collected at Landi Kotal,came down with its guard

to Al i Masj id,and halted there until the c aravan

from Jamrud came up with its escort ; then thecaravans changed hands

,and the Landi Kotal e scort

taking charge of the Jamrud lot took them up toLandi Kotal , kept them there during the nights ofTuesday and Friday

,and on the mornings ofWod

nesday and Saturday took them down to LandiKhana , and delivered them over to the safe custodyof the Amir ’ s levies

, who marched them away toDakka . In a similar way the Caubul cara van was

brought down to Jamrud on Tuesdays and Fridays,

and went on to Peshawar City on the mornings of

Wednesday and Saturday . These arrangements werethe best that could have been organised and thesafest . One thing

,however

,seemed to me to be

highly Obj ectionable,and that was that after the

troops were withdrawn from the Khyber in 188] noEuropeans were permitted to go beyond Jamrud inthe direction of the Pass .

A few words are necessary regarding the Khyberstaff and some of the most notorious maliks or chiefsof the tribes of the Khyber Range . An Orakzaigentleman named Akbar Khan, scion of a goodfamily , who had formerly been in the PeshawarPolice and in 1879 had been sent up to aid Maj orHastings

, was Assistant-Political in the Khyber .Sardar M . Aslam Khan (now Lieut . -Col . Aslam Khan ,

was in command of the Khyber Joz a ilchis .

When he took charge they were an untidy , unkemptband of excellent men , very good material for warfarein any country , but without any discipline or esp rit

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1882-84 ABDULLA NUR 103

de-corp s . The tribesmen called them Sur-L akkais ,or red-tails , from a piece of red tag stuck in theirturbans to distinguish them from the rest of theirbrethren . By dint of patience

, and contrary to theadvice of certain people who obj ected to seeing theKhyber levies either properly dressed or fairly drilled

,

we persevered in the course we had adopted,know

ing for certain from long experience that the Afridirecruit was j ust as proud of a good, well-disciplinedcorps as either Goorkha , Pathan , or Sikh , all thathe obj ected to being interference with his ancestraltribal customs .We were rewarded in the end , when the Khyber

Rifles behaved splendidly in the Black Mountainexpeditions of 1888, 1891, and when they foughtagainst their own kith and kin

,brother against

brother,in that fatal month Of August 1897 , killing

and wounding 180 of the Afridi lashkar, until , havingno head to look to or to guide them , treachery anddiscord ensued , and the Landi Kotal serai wasdelivered over to the Mullah gathering .

Abdul la Nur, Kuki Khel , was the Oldest malikamongst the Afridi chiefs , and about this period hewas close upon eighty-four years of age . In 1861 hehad paid a thousand rupees to have Malik GholamKadir killed in his fort about two miles east of AliMasj id , and in this way not only did he secure thechieftainship of the whole tribe , but he married at

the same time the mother and the widow of the

murdered man . By the first he had his eldest sonHyder ; and from the second were born to him threeor four lads , the senior being Amin Khan , the nextZaman Khan , whose names will appear further onin one or two troublesome episodes . Abdulla Nur

104 RETURN TO THE KHYBER ca . vn

had always been hostile to the British Government .He w as the only Afridi senior who was or tried to berude to Sir L . Cavagnari when he had his interviewwith Faiz Muhammad Khan at Lala Chena on September 21, 1878 and he w as the last malik to comein to us in September 1879, and then only did so whenhe w as distinctly and emphatically told by Am irYakub Khan at Caubul that he must expect nothingfrom him or from Afghanistan in the future . He worshipped rupees

,and was in the full belief that the

Indian Government could be squeezed at all timesand on all occasions . He w as always accompaniedby his favourite son Amin Khan

,whom he had

trained according to his own principles . The mostclever chief was Malik Khwas Khan , Zakha Khel .The most honest and most true w as my friend WalliMuhammad Khan

,and for years part of my work

w as to prevent him from falling into the clutches OfKhwas and ruining himself—Lthe fate which actuallyhappened to him within five weeks of my giving upcharge of the Khyber on July 11

,1897 .

Just at this period Peshawar w as swarming withAfghan refugees

, who had cast their lot with us whenour troops entered Afghanistan , and who had beencompelled to clear out of their country

,leaving homes

and ancestral property, when our forces retraced theirsteps towards India . Many things came back to mymind when I remembered Jelallab ad in the years 1879and 1880

,and thought of what the chiefs and sardars

had then said to me . One morning at Jelallab ad Ihappened to be watching work in the commissariatyard in company with Sardar Khalo Khan . An

energetic Cashmiri contractor, by name Habbo, was

working like a slave,seeing his grain duly weighed

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106 RETURN TO THE KHYBER on . m

should be bestowed on Malik Abdulla Nur . Whenthe whole gang appeared before Mr . Cordery , theCommissioner

,they

,unfortunately for themselves ,

produced in original the letter written by theAssistant Political ; but , on its being read out , theydeclared that they had come to ask about the Regilands , and knew nothing of the plot against SardarAslam KhanJust before February 22

,1882

,information was

received at Jamrud that the Annai Zakha Khelsintended raiding into the Khyber Pass because theirMalik

,Khwas Khan

,would not give them their proper

share of the Khyber allowances . We received timelywarning Of what was going to happen , and theraiders

,caught in a trap

,lost five killed and about

nine wounded . Four other sections of the Z akhas ,who could not be managed by their chiefs , hadtheir allowances taken away from their maliks , andpaid direct to them by me . In this manner a veryserious trouble was removed

,because these men

respected neither malik nor chief,nor any human

being outside their own community . If any individual thought that he was wrongfully deprived ofhis rights by malik or chief, he at once committedsome outrage on the residents of the PeshawarDistrict

,and in this way drew the attention of the

authorities to his grievance and expected us to righthim . However

,they took the precaution of selecting

a very weak set of elders to receive their allowancesfrom me

,on the grounds that the weak men would

be unable to deprive the others Of their lawful rightsin the proper share of the Khyber allowances .The Malikdin Khel freebooter

,Kama]

,was

another gentleman who continually kept Peshawar

1882-84 OUTRAGEs BY KAMAL , FREEBOOTER 107

and Kohat on the qni rive. Having once upon a

time served in one Of our native regiments located inPeshawar, he was well acquainted with all the rulesby which sentries challenged strangers approachingtheir posts at night and the replies that should begiven . He was further well aware of the conditionof the various roads and regimental lines in Cantonments . One night , without any warning, he stoleout and cut up the cavalry picquet of the 19thBengalLancers stationed on the Circular Road, j ust by thehighway that leads from Peshawar Cantonments toJamrud . All were killed or wounded , except oneman who was saying his prayers on the Circular Roadsome twenty yards away from the picquet building .

Some nights later he made a swoop on a cavalrypicquet at Kohat , where he w as not so successful .One of his gang was killed , and the rest were chasedto the frontier by the cavalry scouts and escaped withdifficulty. For these two outrages the Malikdin and

Kambar Khel Afridis were called upon to pay a fine

of Rs . and to turn Kamal out of their lim its .After considerable pressure , the headmen and tribalj irga went to Tirah , burnt his house , and did so .

When they came back, Kamal returned to his own ,and

, by the aid of the Mullahs,rebuilt his house .

Twice again was his place destroyed,and twice

again rebuilt . But he had some more adventuresin hand, and enj oyed a j oke in his own fashion .

The Commissioner was proceeding to Kohat on duty,

and his horses , under escort of a police trooper, weresent Ofl to Matanni , to remain there one night , andthen to j ourney through the Pass to Kohat on thefollowing morning . This news was conveyed toKamal by some friend, and he and several of his

108 RETURN TO THE KHYBER on. m

companions , armed to the teeth, sat down a short

way from the side of the road leading from Peshawarto Matanni, at a spot from which no human habitation was Visible for miles , and awaited events . Soonthe escort , and horses with the grooms , and mul escarrying loads appeared ; and , noticing a fire and thefriendly pipe going round, the men were attracted tothe spot without knowing the quality of the partythey were about to j oin . Kamal removed everyanimal and took them away to Tirah . The Malikdinand Kambar Khel Afridis were again fined for notcontroll ing Kamal, but that individual did not mindthis in the least, as he had numerous quarters wherehe could be sheltered when his trib esmen f um ed

against him . In this instance he received Rs . 900from Muhammad Sarfaraz Khan, Arbab of theMohmands , who w as most anxious to recover theCommissioner ’ s horses and readily paid this sum to

get them back .

One morning,about 2 A .M .

, I was called up by theDeputy Commissioner of Peshawar, who had drivenover to my house to tell me that a report had j ustbeen brought to him that Kamal had attacked and

cut up the whole Of the picquet stations on the roadleading to Fort Bara , and he asked me to come outand investigate the matter. Away we went , butlearnt that affairs were not so b ad as had beenreported ; only a sentry of the Sappers and Minershad been wounded and his rifle carried off. As wemoved in the direction of the Sapper and Minerl ines , we met an Afghan Kuchi driving about fifty tosixty camels through the centre Of the PeshawarCantonments in the dead Of night , with no one tointerfere with him

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1 10 RETURN To THE KHYBER ca . vn

d ifficult matter, to begin with . Then you will tryhim w ith all the intricacies of your law ,

and if heis sentenced to death

,and the judgment upheld

,

Kamal will be hanged. My way and yours bothmean death t o the man

,but mine is the simmer,

and surer in the end. Why not reward me forworking in my own fashion

After several interviews , he went away to hatchhis own scheme of revenge , for he was very anxiousto kill Kamal on his own account

, and at length hesucceeded in his obj ect, after some years of patientwaiting. Kamal and his cousin lived in the Bairamis ection of the Malikdin Khel country in Tirah

,the

forts of the two families being near to one another.Kamal , finding that he was supported by the priesthood

,became a little careless in looking after his

own safety, his precautions lessened, and he w as inthe habit of taking walks behind the village mosque

,

feeling assured, in his own mind, that no spot w asso safe a s one in close proximity to the holy place .But he had a vigilant enemy

,who watched him and

his movements very closely. One day in February1888 thi s cousin , concealing his rifle , entered them osque , remained there for hours without lettingpeople know what Obj ect he had in View. With an

iron spike he made a good-sized hole in the backmud wall of the building, and kept his eye onthe ground in front of it . Kamal, according to hishabit , came out for a stroll, and the cousin , puttinghis rifle through the hole , took careful aim and

shot his kinsman dead . He then hurried downto Peshawar to claim the reward . Of course noreward was given for the murder, and the cousin

’ sown end came soon . Akbar, brother of Kamal , a

1882-84 ROBBERIES EASY AT PESHAWAR 111

young man known amongst the Afridis as a chau l ak

sarai—ie . an extremely active and smart fellowmanaged to kill him , and in this way revengedKamal ’ s death . No more was heard of Ak bar afterthis ; he may have been kill ed in a feud

,or he may

have taken to a useful life and given up his thievishraiding habits , but so far as we were concerned hedisappeared entirely.

NO cantonment or station that I have seen inIndia is so open to attack from thieves and robbers asPeshawar

, and none so difficult to protect by meansof guards or sentinels . The station is in the formof a large ell ipse , the western end touching the roadthat comes from the Bara Valley, by Fort Bara , andj oins the Mall by the cavalry lines

,the eastern end

adjoining the Peshawar Jail, whilst further east, onthe Grand Trunk Road , lies the fort of Peshawaralmost touching the city . A road

,called the Circular

Road,goes round the station . From the Bara Road

there is a succession of small hamlets and large peachgardens to the south of the Cantonm ents

,quite

close to this Circular Road, is the Saddar Bazar, rightup to the city . Three or four vil lainous villages

,full

of thieves , face the station in the direction of theKhyber . Al l Afridis coming from the direction ofthe Bara Valley, or the Khyber Hills , or Mohmands

j ourneying by the Michni Road, must enter and passthrough the heart of the Cantonments . But theworst evil of all is the location of the Civil Courts inthe very centre of the station , close to the cricket

ground . Here thousands of the best and worstcharacters of the district assembled for hours everyday and watched the nakedness of the land

,making

their arrangements by day for visiting the houses at

112 RETURN TO THE KHYBER on. m

night . It is impossible to alter these circumstancesnow

,but the evils are observable even to the casual

Visitor to Peshawar to-day, and the number ofsentries that have to be placed in Cantonments at

night time make night duty heavy on the garrison ,and on this account Peshawar is not beloved by thesoldiery .

Owing to the recommendation of my predecessorbetween 1880 and 1881, a sum of rupees hadbeen sanctioned for the repair of the Old Tartarra

Road,but no one had made any attempt to carry

out these repairs . To those who are not acquaintedwith this highway, I may explain that formerly theKhyber Pass

,thanks to the quarrels and exactions of

the Afridis , was always closed to caravans , trade , andtravellers except when some strong man forced themto keep it Open for the time being , and when hepassed away

,or the whim left him

,the Pass was

closed again . On this account the rulers of Caubulpreferred to negotiate for the opening out of theTartarra route , which was a much more diffi cult road ,but far easier to arrange with the tribesmen therethan with those of the historical Pass . LeavingFort Dakka

,this route goes through Loe Dakka

(Larger or Greater Dakka) , Kam (Lesser) Dakka , andascending the Shilman Ghakha (Pass or Fork) passesthrough the country of Loe (Greater) Shilman ,ascends and descends the Dabrai Hill , passes throughthe Mullagori country, and descends into the plainsof the Peshawar Valley close to the police station ofMathra , the first halting stage in the PeshawarValley. The Shilmanis were about 700 armed men

,

all Mohmand s under the Khan of Lalpura , who wasable to keep them in thorough order by means of the

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114 RETURN TO THE KHYBER on m

Khan , with the nine Shinwari headmen , met me ,and the first said , Welcome , Sahib , we thought youhad forgotten us for ever. ’

A day w as spent here to examine a few localities .It was painful to see all the quarters for the General

,

his staff, and the lines for the British and nativeregiments ruined and roofless

,our own handiwork,

the result Of our own policy . The look-out post at

P izgah and others were all in ruins,their timbers

and rafters having been given over to the Shinwaris .The masonry ducts and drinking-places all wantedrepairs . The caravan inclosure

, an Open piece ofground

,was ankle deep in fil th and manure . The

two company barracks at Landi Kotal,every building

down the Khyber Pass , and the road all requiredmending , nothing having been spent on repairs forupwards of a year. After this I went down the Passto Peshawar, arriving there on M ay 21, 1882 .

The four troublesome sections of the ZakhaKhels had been settled with , but this summer proveda trying one . To protect the Peshawar villagers andtheir cattle

,which would insist on straying into

independent limits,a guard of one company of the

Khyber Rifles was placed day and night on theBesai Hill to keep watch in theKajourie plain . Thiscompany was changed monthly, its food and waterbeing sent out from Jamrud, and a big drum and

rockets,&c . ,supplied to it to give alarm in case of

any attack by raiders . Twice a week our menpatrolled the Kajourie Valley, and in this way, bytaking these precautions , we avoided giving the

Afridi robbers a single chance . Sardar Afzab Khan ,brother to Sardar Aslam Khan

,being ap

pointed British Agent at the Court of Amir Abdur

1882—84 MURDER OF CAP TAIN FULFORD 115

Rahman Khan,left for Caubul along with his suite

,

and we saw him safely through the Khyber Pass andin the plains of Jelallab ad

,en route for his new and

troublesome post .A sharp attack of illness in the month of Sep

tember 1882 forced me to proceed to the hills nearMurree on ten days ’ leave . This event would not bementioned except for a curious incident that Occurredon the j ourney when the train stopped at Naushehra .

I happened to notice on the platform a man dressedin the garb of a fakir , who recognised me without mythinking or dreaming of his identity . This man was

Sardar Muhammad Hassan Khan . Governor of Jelallabad

,who had fled from us in December 1879 .

Dressed in the garments of a beggar , he had gotso far

,when

,seeing me at Naushehra

,he thought

that he w as recognised , and so turned Off to HotiMardan , j ourneyed through Hashtnagar into theMohmand country

,and then made his way to Kuner

with the obj ect of raising the country against AmirAbdur Rahman Khan . In the spring of 1883 the Shinwaris of the Jelallab ad District revolted against AmirAbdur Rahman Khan , and on this Sardar MuhammadHassan Khan slipped one night from Kuner into theShinwari hills , and helped the insurgents to damagethe cause of their lawful ruler . I shall refer to himagain , when relating the vicissitudes of his ex traordinary career .A sad case Of Ghazi outrage occurred in the

Peshawar Mall,in which the victim was an old friend

of mine . Captain Fulford, who had been appointed

Assistant Quartermaster-General to the PeshawarBrigade

,arrived and took up his residence in a house

adj oining the Royal Artillery mess,and almost

I 2

116 RETURN TO THE KHYBER on . m

touching the ‘ nine-yard ’ shrine facing the MissionHouse . Every Thursday evening a cloth is placedalong the whole length of this tomb

,which in the

earlier days of our rule in the Peshawar Valley usedto increase in length every year until a clever F eringhistopped its further growth by building a mud wallround it . Flowers are placed and scattered all overthe cloth

,and a few earthen lamps or chiraghs

lighted . One or more sweetmeat sellers come and siton the ground, and display their saleable articlesready to do a good business . A crowd of childrentake their stand on either side of the tomb . Thencome the devotees , not Mussulman but Hinduwomen

,who spend a few pice in the purchase of

sweets which are distributed amongst the children,

a pice or two given to the shrine,and in an hour

or so the crowd disperses . Few fanatics as a rulevisit the place , but on this fatal Thursday evening ,a few days after Fulford ’

s arrival , one did so , and,

seeing Fulford passing by the shrine,followed him .

Turning back homewards , Ful ford had reached theempty space behind the Royal Artillery bazaar

,when

the fanatic crept up quietly behind and shot him inthe back with a pistol which he had kept concealedin his garments . Captain Fulford lingered for a fewdays , and then succumbed to his injuries .My own troubles in the Khyber were plenti

ful enough in those early days . From the month ofOctober 1878 to the spring of 1881 the troopsstationed at Jamrud had daily appropriated twelvehours of the entire Kuki Khel water supply out ofthe twenty-four . After four years ’ delay the PanjabGovernment had awarded Rs . compensation tothe tribesmen for the losses incurred by them on

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118 RETURN To THE KHYBER on. m

and asked him to take up all the Kuki Khels withtheir ploughs and yokes of oxen to plough thisshadda l plot . Nurulla came and asked me what hewas to do , and w as directed to remain quietly at home ,but to communicate to Abdulla Nur the orders hehad received from me . The Malikdin and KambaiKhel Afridis are descended from one stock

,and

between them can turn out excellent fightingmen , and in this quarrel they had combined againstthe Kuki Khel . The Malikdin chiefs lived at Chora

,

some ten miles due south of Ali Masj id,and at this

juncture the Malikdin Khel company Of the KhyberRifles happened to be stationed in Fort Ali Masj id .

Both the native Officers were near relations Of thechiefs . Both went round with Korans in their hands

,

urging their men not to vacate the fort whateverorders came from Jamrud . However

,when the hour

of trial came the two havildars or sergeants broughtthe company down to Jamrud

,leaving the Subadar

and Jemadar to their own devices . Both thesehavildars were promoted . In this w ay a very troublesome question was disposed Of for the time being ,and when all the Afridi j irgas appeared at Peshawarin November 1882 , it was settled for good by the aidOf the Maliks of the Zakha Khel Afridi s . There isan Old Persian saying ,

The Jackal tha t haunts the w ilds of M azindaran

C an only b e caught by the hounds of M azindaran .

Certainly the Zakha chiefs caught Abdulla Nurfirmly in their clutches this time , and for sixteenyears the shadda l land dispute has not been openedup again .

In the spring of 1883, on the recommendation of

1882-84 IMPROVEMENTS IN THE KHYBER 119

the Commissioner,my salary was reduced . This

was done in the face Of a promise made to me inJuly 1879 before I took up the Khyber appointment ,and Of a letter sent by Sir R . Egerton ’ s Government in October 1879

,fixing my pay. This w as my

reward for serving the Government of the Panjabfor thirteen years during a fairly troublesome period .

Improvements were being made in the Khybergradually but surely . A small conservancy estab lishment was sanctioned for Landi Kotal , and thecaravan inclosure cleansed of the filth which had

been allowed to accumulate there for ages . The roadwas being repaired and put in order, under greatopposition at first

,but gradually by patient waiting

we had our own w ay. One or two of the maliks ,especially Khwas Khan

,Zakha Khel , were Opponents

to the bitter end,and did their utmost to prevent

the Khyber road being improved or any work takenin hand ; but the tribesmen happily would notaccept that view . The following procedure was

therefore adopted . From Jamrud to Ali Masj id theroad w as worked by men supplied by the Kuki Khels .

Ali Masj id to near Gurgurra belonged to the MalikdinKhel . Gurgurra to Malik Khwas Khan ’ s house tohis section Of the Z akhas . From Khwas Khan ’ sfort to the Shinwari limits w as the share of MalikWalli Muhammad Khan ’ s party amongst the ZakhaKhels . The last bit to Landi Khana and Tor-Khamwas allotted to the Shinwaris . Some man able tomanage his particular tribe was selected

,and asked

to bring men to work on the road at four annas a day ;and as this meant money put into the hands of thetribesmen direct

,they were quite willing to set aside

the wishes of their chiefs where their private interests

120 RETURN To THE KHYBER cu . m

were concerned . The same difliculty had to beencountered when repairing the military postsbetween Fort Jamrud and Landi Khana

,but once a

move was made the friction year by year decreased inin tensity .

Malik Abdul la Nur had feathered his nest prettywell , in spite Of having been in constant Oppositionto the British Government all his life He hadreceived something like Rs . in value for injuryto crops and damage to water mill s at Ali Masj idduring its occupation by our troops . He w as granteda special pension Of Rs . 150 a month for life

,on

account of some claims to lands at Ragi L all am .

He had robbed his tribesmen of their share of theKhyber allowances during 1880, 1881, 1882 , and in onew ay or another he had accumulated betweenor rupees

,which he had carried off secretly to

his fort at the w estern limit of the Bara Vall ey . Thishoard was of great use to his son in troubling me forthe space of eight years . The incident will be relatedin its proper place . Abdulla Nur

,in the spring of

1883 , had secured all his own and the tribal all owances , and wanted to fly secretly to hi s summer homein the Bara Valley, where , w ith the support of theTirah or Bajgal Kuk i Khels , he coul d defy his

brethren who lived in the ti llages between JamrudandAli Masj id . But these last were quite equal to theoccasion , and , surroun ding his fort , they had it outwith him for several hours in rifle practice , and madehim pay up a fair proportion of their share of allowances , but not the full portion , before they permittedhim to take his departure .

The Shinwaris Of the Jelallab ad District claimedcertain posts on the road between Tor-Kham and

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122 RETURN To THE KHYBER on . m

sisters , and widows of the tribesmen killed in thespring of 1883 .

In September 1883 Captain Nixon, Of the Pesha

w ar police , Sardar Aslam Khan , and I undertooka trip from Jamrud Fort to the top Of LakkaSar, the highest peak of the Tartarra Range . Westarted from Jamrud , as our route went by Gudar,through the Lashora Valley

,up the Saprai Hill , and

so far we went by the road taken by General Mac

pherson’

s turning column on the evening and nightof November 20

,1878 . After this we had to wheel

a bit to the right,and go up a very steep ascent

which our tired animals could not manage . Thej ourney was both long and trying

,the road very b ad ,

and the transport extremely indifferent,so we made

for Kambela,the summer quarters of the Mullagori

tribe , and halted here for the night . The ridge to theeast in the direction of Peshawar

,and the hills to

the west , would have made excellent summer quartersfor troops . It w as quite cool at Kambela , and theMullagoris had scattered for their winter settlementsbut

,hearing of our arrival , many Of their headmen

hurried up to render any aid they could give . Thej ourney to Lakka Sar being impossible now

,w e

turned to Lwara Miana the next morning , halted forthe day, and w ent to Peshawar the follow ing morning .

The year 1884 promised badly, as I thought,

at the beginning,but in the end matters improved

,

and I look upon that year as the one when ourtrips to the Khyber Hills really took a tangible form

,

and gradually in course of time produced that goodfellowship with the tribes which made us heartilywelcomed at every place we went to . Abdulla Nurand his son , owing to some cause or other, did not

1882 -84 NURULLA AND ABDULLA NUR MURDERED 123

come down to his w inter quarters at Jam till themonth of January 1884 . He went at once to seeSardar Aslam Khan , whose quarters were then in thebarracks of the Khyber Rifles , and the two had a

very cordial meeting . The next day father and sonwent into Peshawar, and had an interview with theNative Assistant Political Officer, Akbar Khan , living

at Bhana Mari , a suburb of the city of Peshawar .

What actually transpired at this meeting was neverclearly revealed , but Abdul la Nur and his son turnedback to Jam ,

and the following morning Am in Khanwent to old Malik Nurulla ’

s house , accompanied by a

few of the b ad lot that always were with him ,and

murdered Nurulla and two Of his sons without anywarning or apparent cause . At the funeral of thesemen Abdulla Nur declared that he was guiltless ofthe deed

,but everyone knew that his son and his

own retainers would never have committed so darkand treacherous an act without his orders . Withinforty-eight hours of the murder of Nurulla he himselfwas shot in his own guest chamber, seated in themidst of his relations and retainers

, and died in

stantaneously. The murderer,fired upon repeatedl y

as he ran,had a wonderful escape

,and took shelter

in the house of Akbar,a leading m an of Jam

,living

at the western limit of the village . I was ca lledupon to make a long inquiry into this matter

,which

was futile in the end,as the events occurred across

the border and necessitated no interference on ourpart . But the result went far to show that theNative Assistant Political w as at the bottom of

the business .In the month of July 1884 Sardar Aslam Khan

and I went up to Landi Kotal , and lived in large

124 RETURN TO THE KHYBER on . vu

tents taken up from Jamrud . The mornings , evenings , and nights were cool, but the great force of thesun ’ s rays made the tents very warm between midday and 3 P .M . ; still, it was a great improvementon the Peshawar Valley. During the mornings w et ook our walk , discussed matters with all the headmen and visitors till breakfast

,when the tribesmen

went away for their morning meal . From 10 A.M .

to 5 P .M . was reserved for work ; in the eveningsthe people assembled once more

,and we again had a

w alk and a talk . Often whilst we were out the timec ame round for prayers

,when the hillmen would

spread their cloths,turn their faces towards the

supposed correct quarter,and proceed w ith their

devotions,whilst I waited seated on a rock near at

hand. We then walked back to camp , and separatedfor the night . In this way two weeks were spent atLandi Kotal

,when we moved to Kurre-Nao , a small

valley in the Tartarra Range about feet inheight . The weather here was glorious , the onlyobj ection to the place being that the valley wasrather narrow,

being open towards the west , and thefierce wind at times very annoying . To the eastrose the spur of the Tartarra Range which ends inL akka Sar, a huge barrier towering feet aboveus . Its eastern and southern faces form huge pre

c ipices with sheer drops in places of feet ; but

on the western quarter where we were the ascent to

L akka Sar, though steep , had gentle slopes down tothe ravine where our camp was . In this amphitheatre were about two hundred deep snow wells , andthe system of filling them in was as follows When

the snow fell , commencing generally in November

and continuing till February, the Shinwaris came

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124 RETURN To THE KHYBER on . vn

tents taken up from Jamrud . The mornings,even

ings , and nights were cool , but the great force of thesun ’ s rays made the tents very warm between midday and 3 RM . still , it was a great improvementon the Peshawar Valley . During the mornings wet ook our walk , discussed matters with all the headmen and visitors till breakfast

,when the tribesmen

went away for their morning meal . From 10 A .M .

to 5 RM . was reserved for work ; in the eveningsthe people assembled once more , and we again had a

walk and a talk . Often whilst we were out the timecame round for prayers

,when the hillmen would

spread their cloths,turn their faces towards the

supposed correct quarter, and proceed with theirdevotions

,whilst I waited seated on a rock near at

hand. We then walked back to camp,and separated

for the night . In this w ay two weeks were Spent atLandi Kotal , when we moved to Kurre-Nao

,a small

valley in the Tartarra Range about feet inheight . The weather here was glorious , the onlyobj ection to the place being that the valley wasrather narrow

,being open towards the west

,and the

fierce wind at times very annoying . To the eastrose the spur of the Tartarra Range which ends inLakka Sar, a huge barrier towering feet aboveus . Its eastern and southern faces form huge precipices with sheer drops in places of feet ; but

on the western quarter where we were the ascent toL akka Sar, though steep , had gentle Slopes down tothe ravine where our camp was . In this amphitheatre were about two hundred deep snow wells , andthe system of filling them in was as follows When

the snow fell , commencing generally in November

and continuing till February, the Shinwaris came

1882-84 ASCENT OF LAKKA SAR 125

up,collected it

,and beat it into the wells . If the

drainage was good and the season a prosperous one ,this snow would keep well into the month of Octoberfollowing . It was conveyed on mules into the cityof Peshawar, commencing with themonth of February,when the price was two rupees a load , and lastingthrough the hot season into October, when a muleload would fetch sometimes eight rupees . There is

a great demand for sharba t, fa la da , and ices amongstthe Mussulman residents of Peshawar.One morning Sardar Aslam Khan and I started at

4 A.H . to ascend Lakka Sar. By fair good luck thePeshawar Valley w as free from a dust storm as we

reached the crest of the peak, a small place not morethan ten or twelve feet in diameter . A ridge ran

westwards , not quite so high as the spot we were on .

In the centre was a small inclosure three to four feetin diameter , said to be a very holy shrine

,and he or

she who wished his or her desires to be fulfilled hadto cut a small stick from the branch of the nearesttree

,point it at one end, limit the length to four or

five inches , and then peg it down close to the shrine .I conformed to the rule fourteen years ago and more

,

but somehow my wishes have not yet been fulfi lled .

The panorama from here was grand to a degree .Just below us nestled Fort Jamrud . Peshawar

,with

its church and double- storeyed barracks and its massof trees , occupied the foreground . To the left laythe Caubul River, and further north could be seen theSwat stream , with the plains of Yusufzai , the Moraand Illam Ranges , with the Indus in full flood runningdue south at the eastern extremity of the PeshawarValley. I went up again to helio with certainstations from Lakka Sar a few days later, but the

126 RETURN TO THE KHYBER on. m

west wind w as blowing and a storm raged over thePeshawar Valley , leaving nothing visible . I re

mained the whole night there,wanting to try if a

m essage could not be delivered by lamp ; but thedust storm made it hopeless

, and it continued thusfor a whole week .

Having spent two weeks here we broke up campand moved to Tor-Sappar , due north of Landi Kotal ,its highest altitude being feet . This was thebest place we had yet discovered, and later on it w asthe plateau where we spent many happy months incertain seasons during the years we went up to theKhyber Hills .As the Afghan Boundary Commission was about

to move down to Quetta,and as Sardar Aslam Khan

had been selected as one of its members , we had toreturn to Peshawar, and in this way our first sevenweeks ’ trip to the Khyber Hills came to an end .

Before concluding this chapter I may note thatit was understood by the tribesmen that wherevermy camp was in their hills , the greatest enemiesmight resort to it with perfect safety. NO private ,public

,or tribal feuds were to be carried out on any

condition . Hence for six or seven weeks my camp

was full of men having deadly blood feuds with one

another , armed to the teeth , each man having hisloaded rifle , yet no outrage was ever committed ; andI m ay say that this rule was implicitly carried outby me for more than fifteen years . During all thattime there never was an attempt made to steal a

farthing ’ s worth of property from our tents or camp,

except on one occasion when a few trifling itemsbelonging to one of our Khyber cavalry sowars

w ere carried off from the lines at Landi Kotal .

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CHAP TER VIII

THE D UKE AND D UCHE SS OF CONNAUGHT ’S AND

THE] ? ril l l l t fl ICLSI ZT?

1884—1885

EARLY in September 1884 it w as notified that theirRoyal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Connaught woul d pay a visit to Peshawar

, and it wasthought that possibly they might extend their tourto the Khyber Pass as far as Al i Masj id . This w asthe first occasion of Peshawar being honoured with a

royal Visit , for when H .E .H . the Prince of Walesw as in India his j ourney to the North-West Frontierwas limited to a trip to Jammu

, and afterwards tothe Chenab River to Open the greatAl exandra railwaybridge . Peshawar had not an opportunity of showingits welcome to the Prince in 1875—76 , and thereforethe present visit of the Duke and Duchess of Connaught was doubly welcome . A bountiful programmewas arranged, which accounted for nearly every hourof their stay in the Peshawar Valley . It was shownto me

,and I was asked if I could suggest anything

to fill in a two hours’

gap , which appeared to be theonly blank in time left . I suggested that a twohours ’ rest might possibly be needful and appreciatedBut the ceremonial programme was very strictlycarried out . The royal Visitors arrived on the morning of September 30, and were received at the railway

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130 THE AM IR’S VISIT on . vm

and grandest part of the Khyber after j ourneying sofar, and I had made every preparation for such a visit .The Commissioner, however, did not like visits to theKhyber, and was apprehensive that by going beyondFort Jamrud some danger might be incurred

, and

therefore he directed that , as far as possible , visitorsshould not be permitted to j ourney much to the westof Jamrud. My own Opinion was that the mostdangerous Spot on the whole road was the ground inthe vicinity of that fort

,because the near Kuki Khel

villages had living amongst them a number of murderers , thieves , and housebreakers who had run awayfrom the Peshawar District, and taken shelter withthe Kuki Khel . These outlaws , many of them withrewards on their heads—and who, if captured , mightbe executed—were the individuals who were to bedreaded and guarded against . The further you gotaway from Fort Jamrud the safer the road and localityand the more pleased the people were to see Europeans . I always on this account encouraged suchtrips

, and in time Ali Masj id on Tuesdays was turnedinto a pleasant picnic-ground. There were severalcases of Ghazi outrages in Peshawar Cantonmentsduring 1882 to July 11 , 1897 , and not a house wasactually safe from the prowling thieves during thedark nights of every month , but the lives and propertyof European visitors to the Khyber were as safe as

in the streets of London .

The name Fort Jamrud, which we had given tothis Sikh fortress built by Harri Singh in the year1836—37 , has always been a puzzle to me . Jam isthe name of the Kuki Khel village which lies nearestto the fort on the left bank of the ravine which formsthe eastern entrance of the Khyber Pass . Ra d in

18847 85 INSOLENCE OF AMIN KHAN 131

Persian means stream or rivul et . The stream thatflows down by Ali Masj id

,and is j oined at Jab b agai

by the waters of the Chora rivul et , irrigates after thi smeeting the lands of several Kuki Khel villages

,the

largest of which is named Kaddam . The correctname for this very tiny river might be Rud-i-Khyber

,

Rud—i-Ali Masj id,Rud-i-Kuki Khel, but no Oriental

woul d style it Jamrud . However, once upon a timesomeone gave this name to the fort, and Fort Jamrudit w ill now remain .

Early in the year 1885 Amin Khan , Kuki Khel ,comm enced to play pranks , which , after seven and a

half years of constant and incessant trouble on hispart

,ul timately ended in bringing him to grief. He

had a fairly full treasury,if one could apply such a

term to the thirty to forty thousand rupees collectedby his father during his four years Of maliki but thissum w as a very large amount in the eyes Of Afridis .The young lad had a number Of evil advisers

,but his

training under his father ’ s eyes and according to hisfather ’ s principles was his greatest misfortune . Hehad been brought up to believe that we coul d besqueezed to any extent , and that, to prevent rupture ,the authorities would give in to any demand as muchas it w as possible to surrender, and this mistake onhis part he did not discover until it was too late torectify it . He wrote an angry letter (his father hadhad him taught to read and write Persian) ashngthat the special all owance of Rs . 150 a month hestowed On his father shoul d be continued to him . Itwas pointed out to him in reply that the conditionunder which the grant was made to Malik Abdul la Nurwas that it was only for his life . The Lieut . -GovernorOf the Panjab , Sir C . Aitcheson, had arrived at Pesha

K 2

132 THE AMIR’S VISIT on . vm

war,and being about to hold a darbar

,had expressed

a wish to see the Khyber road as far as Al i Masj id .

Sardar Aslam Khan having gone away on the AfghanBoundary Commission , his place was temporarilyfill ed by Sayad Badshah

,Banuri of Germa in

the Kohat District , a gentleman well known on thefrontier and who had done good service under me at

Hoti-Mardan and Jelallab ad . Amin Khan informedSayad Badshah that if this Special allowance was notgiven to him at once

,and before the Lieut . -Governor ’ s

visit to Al i Masj id , he would fire on Sir C . Aitchesonand suite if they ventured into the Pass . I stronglyurged that he Should be turned out of his malikiforthwith , and that the tribe be informed at the darbarwhich w as to be held that morning that they mustselect another representative

,as w e could not possibly

accept this man as their chief . The Lieut . -Governorthought otherwise

,and preferred warning the Kuki

Khel j irga at the darbar that he made them answerablefor the behaviour of their selected chief . He put Offhis j ourney to Ali Masj id also

,and limited his trip to

Jamrud .

Reports were afloat immediately after this darbarthat an Imperial darbar w as shortly to be held at

Rawal Pindi , and that H .H . Am ir Abdur RahmanKhanwas coming down from Caubul to attend in personto seek a personal interview w ith HE . the Viceroyand Governor-General of India . These reportsproved correct

,and my business w as to supply the

Amir and all his retinue with food , wood , grass , andeverything they required at Landi Kotal , Shagai (nearAl i Masj id) , and Jamrud . At Landi Kotal the onlycommodities procurable were wood and grass

,even

water had to be brought from Landi Khana Shagai,

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134 THE AMIR’S VISIT on . vm

sent men to point out to him the ground cleared andportioned off for the Afghan camp . I learnt later onthat this individual was the head executioner of theruler of the God-granted kingdom

,

’

and so I gavehim a wide berth afterwards . Next morning we

were to meet His Highness at our boundary line,

Tor-Kham ,and proceeding there early

,we waited in

‘ review order ’ for fully two hours before His Highness ’ s cavalcade came up . The customary introductions having taken place

,w e had time to look‘

at the Amir , who w as surrounded by a crowd ofattendants (pesh-khidma ts) on foot . Just behindhim rode the D abir-ul-Mulk

,Gholam Nabbi

,his

Commander-in -Chief,Sipar Salar Gholam Hyder

Khan,Charkhi

,our BritishAgent

,SardarAfzal Khan ,

and one or two lads mounted on good horses .Our cavalry w as directed to go in front , as the Amirpreferred having his own men near and round him .

The carrier pigeons bearing a message to Peshawar ofhis arrival were now let go whilst theAmir was changing his mount

,a very strong pony about in height .

Another animal of the same height and build wasbrought up close to the one he w as riding

,facing in

the opposite direction . His Highness took his left footout of his stirrup

,and placed it inside the near stirrup

o f the saddle on the fresh mount ; having done this , theright foot with the support of several attendants wasbrought over the neck of the animal he had alreadyridden

,and swung over the saddl e of the fresh mount ,

and he w as then ready for a start . In this w ay thetrouble of dismounting to the ground and thenmounting again w as avoided . One Of the Afghancortege, a young lad of some twenty years of age ,

attempted to show Off his own wonderful equestrian

1884-85 THE AMIR’S CAVALCADE 135

ability in the narrow ravine, and his horse , letting

out , inj ured three animals belonging to the BengalCavalry . One excitable commandant of infantrycracked his whip repeatedly

,and made his foot soldiers

stamp their feet violently as they marched up thesloping road leading to Landi Kotal . Behind the iniantry came the royal drum

,if one may call it so , which

boomed out at intervals,then H .H . the Am ir ’ s caval

cade , followed by the Durrani horse , then the mountain guns

,the rear being brought up by the U z -Beg

cavalry (‘ them House-Bugs

,

’

as the British soldiersat Rawal Pindi call ed them) . The Amir

’ s Officials ,highly trained

,kept perfectly silent throughout this

and every other ride,and regarded us like images of

stone . The plateau of Landi Kotal was reached at

last,and near the caravan serai and lines of the

Khyber Rifles a crowd of some hillmen,most ly

armed, some seated , some standing , were waitingexpectantly the arrival of the Amir . Then followeda scene which I could not understand . The Am irlooked round

,and one of the mounted attendants

rode up,whom he addressed in Persian . I only

caught the words,

‘ Do your duty .

’ The attendantgave some instructions to half a dozen mountedmen

,and as the Amir ’ s cavalcade approached a

group of armed men,one of the attendants rode

up and halted his horse in front of them untilHis Highness had passed . All the way down thePass and on the return j ourney this scene was

repeatedly enacted,no matter whether the armed

Afridi s were standing on the level ground or perchedon a rock twenty feet above the Khyber road . Arriving at his camp

,Abdur Rahm an dismounted

,and took

his seat in his darbar tent at the head,whilst some

136 THE AMIR’S VISIT CH. VII I

four or five of us following the Commissioner weresupplied with chairs , the Afghan staff standing outside . Tea in the Russian fa shion was brought roundin glasses

,whilst we who had been up since 4 A.M .

,

and were famished with hunger,longed for the enter

tainment to break up , so that we might go to ourbreakfasts at the mess tent of the l st Bengal Cavalry.

There being a diffi culty in commencing a conversation

,the Commissioner turned to His Highness

,and

asked him if he had seen the pigeons that had beenlet loose at Tor-Kham . The Amir said that he hadnot noticed them

,and a sked why and with what

obj ect they had been brought . The Commissionerattempted to explain the matter

,and inquired if

carrier pigeons were ever employed in Afghanistan .

His Highness then told him that 400 were flowndaily between Caubul and Herat . There was a silencefor a minute after this , when Sardar MuhammadOmar Khan, brother of Sardar Muhammad AfzalKhan

,the British Envoy at the court of the

Amir,asked His Highn ess what the distance might

be between Caubul and Herat . His Highn ess explained the geography of Afghanistan in a mann erwhich exemplified the proverb that silence was

golden,

’ especially in the presence OfAm irs . In 1884the Amir ’ s Officials had desired to build their post atLandi Khana , but were warned that their boundarydid not come east of Tor-Kham ,

“

and on this accountw e had started very early to meet His Highness at

the exact spot where our limits ended and those ofAfghanistan commenced . It was a matter of necessity for us to be on this ground before His Highn essarrived there . The Amir

’ s retinue consisted ofmen

,ponies and horses , besides numerous

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138 THE AMIR’S VISIT on . vm

Peshawar thundered forth a salute , and the 12thBengal Cavalry were drawn up to take their share ofescort duty from Jamrud to Peshawar . The gunsand horses of the field battery having reached FortJamrud on the evening of March 28, had been housedin the inclosure facing west . During the dark nightsome rascally Kuki Khel Afridi

,or

,what is more

likely, some Peshawari outlaw living in their villages ,crept up to the tanks that adj oin this enclosure

,

mounted one of the pillars of the gateway,and fired

his rifle loaded with three or four Slugs in the direction of the horses

,and then slunk away. It was a

stupid trick,as two horses were slightly wounded ,

and the Kuki Khel Afridis suffered to the extent ofRS . 600 fine . T hat evening , about PM

,the

Commissioner spoke severely to Malik Amin Khanand the Kuki Khel elders

,who had been collected for

this purpose,and said that they ought to look better

after the b ad characters of their tribe . In this particular case Amin Khan was innocent , as he was withus at Shagai when the shot w as fired .

The 12th Bengal Cavalry, occupying the northerninclosure of the fort

,kindly asked me to dinner and

to have my morning meal with them ,as the l st

Bengal Cavalry had pitched their camp a gooddistance from the fort , in the direction of Peshawar .It was about 10 PM

,our dinner w as over, and we

had drawn near the fire for a smoke , whilst the rainwas coming gently down outside—when three shotsin quick succession rang out . ‘ They are at thehorses of the l st Bengal Cavalry I cried

,and rose

up to go to my quarters but I w as deceived by thedirection of the sound . When I got to my quarters ,some 200 yards away, a messenger told me that the

1884-85 ARRIVAL AT RAWAL PINDI 139

Commissioner wished to see me , as his tent had beenfired into . However

,after due inquiry it turned

out not so b ad as that . A Mullagori sentry over hiscamp

,having been relieved off duty, had walked

towards a couple of thieves who were making theirway to the Amir

’ s camp . Thinking they were discovered

,they fired over the sentry ’ s head and fled

up the ravine,whilst he discharged his rifle at them .

Satisfied with this explanation , which was correct ,we retired to rest .The next day in pouring rain we continued our

march to Peshawar . From there it was my lotto take the first batch of the Amir ’ s infantry byrail to Rawal Pindi

,and

,again in heavy showers ,

we reached our destination about 11 PM . I was

most lucky in finding several native officers of theBengal and Panjab cavalry on the platform readyto help me

,with detachments of their men . All

were Muhammadans and conversant with Persianand Pushtu

,so their aid w as of the greatest value .

The Officer in charge of the arrangements for H .H .

the Amir ’ s camp was my friend Turner of thePanjab Frontier Force

,who in 1879 had come down

from Caubul in charge of ex-Am ir MuhammadYakub Khan . Reaching his tent , I was warmlywelcomed and provided with food

,after having

had a nine hours ’ fast between Peshawar and RawulPindi .I had to go two or three times before His

Highness on some duty,and Amir Abdur Rahman

Khan always gave me a kindly welcome , but spoketo me as if I had just arrived from the Khyber,although I assured him that I had been all the timein his camp at Rawal Pindi . The darbar and

140 THE AMIR’S VISIT on . vm

parades being over,General T . Gordon one morning

d irected me to accompany him, as the Am ir intended

visiting the fort at Rawal Pindi,and examining all

that w as to be seen there . The General commanding the Rawal Pind i Division

,with his full staff

,

w as there to receive the Amir,who came with his

Sipah Salar and a selected few . We were first takendown into the powder magazine , in which werestored pounds of gunpowder . The Am ir

,

walking with some difficulty, was next conductedthrough the various wards filled with rifles . A

model of the latest 16 -pounder field gun,which

was being built at Woolwich, was standing in thecentre of the arsenal . I believe that at that periodit w as the only model in India

,and not a single

field battery outside of England was then suppliedwith this arm . The weapon was brought to theAmir ’ s notice

,upon which His Highne ss told us

that he had already three batteries of field artilleryequipped with this gun at Caubul Then

,correcting

himself,he replied

,

‘ No,only two batteries

,as the

gun carriages of the third are not yet ready .

’

Ascending the stairs to the rampart , His Highnessrested on the slopes of one of the gun redoubts justabove the caponiere facing the park, and comm enced making inquiries about the cost Of the fort ,the time it took to build

,and what the caponiere

was meant for . Then,looking at a hillock in the

midst of the park , and not very far Off,he asked

what w as its use . He made the same applicationregarding another mound . Then , rising up from thesward, he said in sharp , quick sentences ,

‘ It is agood fort it must have cost a lot of money to build

,

but it is commanded .

’

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142 THE AMIR’S VISIT on . v m

w ith His Highness , and came away from his tentabout 1 A.H . in the morning . Then it took anotherhour to write down all that His Highness had saidto us .

April 18 found us j ourneying westwards towardsLandi Khana . A Zakha Khel thief had been securedat Dakka in the very act of house-breaking

,and now

his Old mother, running alongside the cavalcade,

solicited his pardon and release from Abdur RahmanKhan . But in such matters His Highness was veryfirm .

‘You must have brought your son up verybadly as a mother for him to be a thief now ,

’

was thereply given to the Old lady ’ s solicitations by one whohad cleared many thieves out of his own countrywith a strong hand .

Just then the Amir reigned in his horse , and

called out ,‘Does anyone know which is Madu

Kwala and Tor-Kham ? ’ On this the cavalcadehalted, and I explained and pointed out each locality.

The Am ir was making inquiries about “ the spotwhere the boundaries Of Afghanistan and the KhyberCharge met on this road. Urging his pony up a

little hillock on the right-hand side, and followed byall the European officials and some of his ownstaff

,the Am ir directed his Commander-in-Chief to

build his Afghan post on the crest of that hillock .

This post has not been built yet , and althoughfourteen years have elapsed since that morning ofApril 18, 1885 , the dispute between the Am ir

’ s offi cials

and our own regarding the Afghan boundary linebeing at Tor-Kham or Landi Khana has not been

disposed of up to date . As a matter of much importance , Tor-Kham was made our boundary limitimmediately after the signature of the treaty of

1884-85 TAKING LEAVE OF AMIR 143

Gandamak . But in those days the present Ruler ofAfghanistan w as at Samarcand .

The time had now come to bid adieu to ourRoyal guest . Wishing us farewell

,Am ir Abdur

Rahman Khan,followed by all his dignitaries of

state,his troops

, p esh-lchidma ts

,and the Zakha

Khel lady asking pardon for her son , moved on intothe limits of his own ‘ God-granted Government . ’

(The Amir and all his Officials in their correspondence call Afghanistan the Sa ltina t—i-Khoda dad ,i.e . the ‘ God-granted Government ’

) We all dis

mounted to take a few minutes ’ rest before returningto Landi Kotal , and in this interval the Commissioner busied himself in writing his despatchannouncing the departure of the Amir, and , placingit in the usual w ay, released the only pair of carrierpigeons that we had brought with us to start on theirrisky j ourney to Peshawar . There are some veryhigh cliffs at Tor-Kham on the left -hand side of theroad

,and before the carrier pigeons had made a

couple of circles one of them was snapped upby a peregrine . The second pigeon gave a longerflight

,and we watched the chase anxiously ; the

pursued bird actually flew inside a huge hollowin the rock

,but was chased out again . At last

it was secured , both the peregrine and the pigeoncoming down to the ground within 100 yards of theline of the 1st Bengal Cavalry, who , dismounted,were anxiously watching the flight . A rush was atonce made towards the birds

,and the peregrine

,

clearing Off,permitted the men to secure the pigeon

.

It was the bird that carried the quill conveying themessage . Its feet were much torn by the talons ofthe hawk, and it was of course in great terror . We

144 THE AMIR’S VISIT on. vm

returned to Landi Kotal,remained there that day,

and on the 19th j ourneyed to Peshawar, our kindhosts , the l st Bengal Cavalry, breaking their j ourneyat Jamrud .

The Am ir ’ s visit through the Khyber Pass , takingup six days coming and going

, had been no sinecureto the Khyber offi cials . AS I have noted before ,every item of food and all supplies had to be broughtfrom Peshawar . The camps had to be carefullyguarded

,both by night and day. There was the fear

of some Afghan striking an Afridi, and the latter

using in return his rifle or his long knife . Therewas even the greater danger of some evil-mindedperson ascending a hill -top and firing into the Amir ’ scamp . At Ali Masj id I saw a couple of U z—begcavalry dash their horses into the stream ,

and

attempt to spear a couple Of tame ducks belongingto a Kuki Khel Afridi householder . Then at Jamrudthe two thieves

,making their way towards the

Am ir ’ s camp on a dark, rainy night, were interfered

with by the Mullagori sentry. But happily nothingoccurred during this week of anx iety to add to ourtroubles

,and w e rej oiced that our guests had

j ourneyed safely through the Khyber . The firstnight

,however

,that His Highness encamped at

Dakka , after parting with us , thieves broke into hiscamp and removed Six Martini-Henry rifles from thecare of his soldiery.

The rain and the cool weather still continued,

and it was very fortunate for us that we were soluckily situated . For about the end of May we had todrag up the six heavy guns which the Government ofIndia had presented to theAm ir . A good deal of delay

had been incurred in forwarding these heavy , ob so

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146 THE AMIR’S VI SIT on . mm

the Khaibar Political Diary from the 15th to the2 l st April

,and to say His Honor fully endorses your

remarks regarding the services of Maj or Warburton,the Khaibar Rifles

,and the Khaibar maliks and

tribes on the occasion of the passage of His Highness the Amir and his retinue through the Pass . Iam to request that you will convey to Maj or War

burton an expression of His Honor’ s appreciation ofthe excellent arrangements made by him on thisoccasion .

’

Again,a letter dated Lahore , June 26 , 1885 , from

the Secretary to Government,Panjab , to the Com

missioner and Superintendent , Peshawar Division,noted ' I am now to add that the LieutenantGovernor is much obliged to Maj or Warburton forhis exertions

,which were highly creditable to him .

’

But those who deserved most credit of all werethe oflicers and men of the Khyber Rifles , who un

flinchingly through cold and rain carried out all

their diffi cult duties without a murmur .

CHAPTER IX

E .H . AMIR ABD UR RAHMAN KHAN

NO attempt will be made here to deal with anypolitical bearings touching the life and reign of theremarkable man who has been Ruler of Afghanistanfor now more than nineteen years . The history ofthat country

,from the time of the death Of the great

Am ir Dost Muhammad Khan to the period whichmade Sardar Abdur Rahman a fugitive and a pensioner at Samarcand, is well kn own to all readersof Central Asian history

,and they must be equally

familiar with the attempts made to conciliateAm ir Sher Al i Khan from 1869 to the time that ourtroops advanced on November 21, 1878, to invadeAfghanistan . Whatever may have been the causeswhich prevented our winning the affection of theAfghan ruler, his sardars , and his people must beleft to the judgment of those experts at Calcutta ,Simla

,or the India Office in whose hands lie the

destinies of India . I shall only deal here with themarvellous luck and good fortune that have alwaysattended Abdur Rahman from the time he startedfrom Samarcand in the early part Of 1880 to win forhimself the rul ership of that troublesome countryknown to us as the land of the Afghans .In the spring of 1880 we were holding Candahar ,

Kurram , Caubul , and the line via Jelallab ad and the

148 E .H. AMIR ABDUR RAHMAN KHAN cu . 1x

Khyber Pass to Peshawar . The very powerful coalition formed by Muhammad Jan Khan

,Mushki Al am ,

and the sardars and chiefs of the Sher Al i Khan faction had been defeated in their attack on Sherpur,but they were not crushed

,and their power w as still

very great . Westwards from Candahar to Herat thewhole country w as Virtually in the hands Of SardarMuhammad Ayub Khan

,and what is known to us as

Afghan-Turkestan , including Badakhshan , w as heldfor the Sher Al i Khan dynasty by General GholamHyder Khan

,Wardak, a trusted soldier of Amir Sher

Ali ’ s . This w as the condition Of the country whenthe present Amir with his small following left Samarcand

,and made for the north-east quarter of Afghan

Turkestan,and

,crossing the Oxus

,entered Badakh

shan . The first notice we had of his arrival onAfghan soil w as sent to me by Sayad MahmudBadshah of Kuner , and delivered at Jelallab ad aboutthe very day that Mr . Lepel Griffin had arrived thereen route to Caubul . Although in a demi-Official letterto the Foreign Department , some time before this ,I had explained the advantages of placing AbdurRahman Khan on the throne , yet the Chances Of

his being permitted to get an entry into Afghanistanwere SO remote that it seemed a positive certainty ofone of the late Am ir Sher Ali Khan ’ s family beingaccepted as Amir when our troops withdrew fromthe country . Sardar M . Ayub Khan w as paramountat Herat , and nothing that the Opposite faction coulddo would have shaken his authority in that provincefor one Single second ; and he further knew,

or musthave surmised , that sooner or later the British troopswould be withdrawn from Caubul , and that the onlyindividual he and his dynasty had to fear as a

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150 E .H . AMIR ABDUR RAHMAN KHAN on . m

Ghazis was arranging to strike . In this way Mu

hammad Jan Khan w as secured, and sent away

in the direction of Afghan-Turkestan,under charge

of one of the Amir ’ s much trusted p esh-khidma ts ,

and he has not yet returned to his faithful friends atCaubul .Whilst Muhammad Jan Khan ’ s career was being

thus cut Short , Sardar Muhammad Ayub Khan , whohad returned to Herat after his defeat at Baba -Walli ,w as raising up another army and getting togetheranother field artillery, and when his plans were readyhe again marched towards Candahar

,and on this

occasion w as lucky enough to defeat Am ir AbdurRahman Khan ’ s general

,and secure Candahar .

Friends urged him time after time to advance uponCaubul . His name w as then high in favour ; thepowerful Ghilzai tribe

,who revolted afterwards , were

wavering , and might have j oined him . His presenceat Candahar was injurious to him ,

because the peoplethere knew we were supporting Amir Abdur RahmanKhan , and Ayub

’

s followers declared afterwards thatit was this support which ruined their master

’

s

cause , and not anything which Amir Abdur Rahman Khan did . But Ayub lingered at Candahar ,and permitted his rival to march down through theGhilzai country, increasing his own influence thereby

,crushing the faction of his enemy

,and in the end

winning at Candahar, whilst his general , SardarAbdul Kudus Khan , marching fromAfghan-Turkestanby way of M aimena

,was fortunate enough to secure

Herat city and district . Sardar M . Ayub Khanhad no further resource left but to save himself byflight into Persia . An d in this way Amir AbdurRahman was able to tide over the most dangerous

SHINWARIS AND GHILZAIS

crisis of his career Since he became the recognisedAm ir of Afghanistan .

The next incident was the rising of the Ali SherKhel , Mandezai , Sangu Khel , and Sipah Shinwarisof Ningrahar in the Jelallab ad District, the first ofwhom are related to and are a branch of the Shinwaris of Loargi (from Lw ara

,highland) , and some

times known as Landi Kotal (L and, or Short , Kotal) ,

who have come under uS by the treaty of Gandamak .

These four Shinwari clans claimed certain postsbetween Landi Khana and Dakka on the PeshawarJelallab ad road , and since His Highness had openedhis portion of the road to caravans

,and w as taking

tolls from travellers and merchants , these hill-menthought they had a right to make some demand fortheir share also . But instead of pleading their causein a gentle

,suitable manner

,they attempted to

Secure it by force of arms , and this was a verydangerous game to play with His Highness . Troopswere immediately launched into the Shinwari country,and during the sixteen years that have elapsed Sincethe first commencement of this trouble the power ofthe four clans has been entirely crushed

, and theyhave been compelled to become revenue-paying subj ects of the Am ir . About the same time the Mangalsand the people of Kuner became fractious

,but their

resistance was not of SO persistent or tenacious a

nature as that Of the Shins .The great Ghilzai tribe were now about to try

their luck against the fortunate ruler of Afghanistan,

and although at the outset some spark of successattended their exertions

,and one or two of the

Amir ’ s generals were hard pressed,still

,in the end

the greater unanimity in the councils and the

152 H .H. AMIR ABDUR RAHMAN KHAN on . IX

greater resources of the Afghan Government madevictory assured and certain . The Ghilzais werecompelled to bow the knee

,and forced to surrender

all their arms . Just about this time Sardar M . AyubKhan made his venture from Teheran in the direction of Herat

,but on arriving at the confines of that

province he learnt that all his friends were dead andburied

,and that the new generation knew him not .

Sardar Muhammad Ishak Khan,cousin of the

Am ir ’ s and son of Amir Azim Khan,who had for

eight years ruled Afghan—Turkestan as Governor onbehalf of Abdur Rahman Khan

,selected the year

1888 for raising the standard of revolt against HisHighness . The command of the Caubul army wasentrusted to Gholam Hyder Khan , Orakzai (known asLandai

,on account of his Short stature) , and the

battle of Ghaznighak , which should have been a

victory for Ishak Khan,w as turned into a defeat by

his conduct and the brave energy of Gholam Hyder .Sardar M . Ishak Khan with all his fam ily crossedthe Oxus

,and he is now located at Samarcand, wait

ing patiently for the time when he may'

be once morecalled to make a bid for the throne of Caubul .The campaign against the Hazaras w as a long

and trying one , but in the end His Highness wasvictorious and the Hazara power w as broken . Itmay be resuscitated some day when Russia occupiesHerat and Afghan-Turkestan , and feels it worth herwhile to secure the people of the Hazarajat as all iesin any movement towards Kelat

-i-Ghilzi,Ghuzni

,or

Candahar . But this is not a subj ect which Shouldbe allowed a place here . The overthrow of the Kafirs ,that race which had held its own against all the greatconquerors of Asia—Sultan Mahmud of Ghuzni,

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CHAPTER X

IN TH E KH YBER

1886—1888

SAYAD BADSHAH,officiating Commandant Khyber

Rifles , died suddenly of heart disease during September 1885

,and his place was taken by Malik

Afridi Khan , second in command , pending the returnOf Sardar Muhammad Aslam Khan

,absent with

the Afghan Boundary Commission . One day in thewinter Afridi Khan and I had to go to the Sipahvillage of Ilam-gudar

,which lies about two miles in

a south-westerly direction in the bed Of the streamfrom Fort Bara . The Village is on the left bankof the Bara River

,and consists of a succession of

hamlets,each with a tower or two to defend the Site

and crops,extending for a distance of three to three

and a -half miles towards the hills . Until youactually come on to the bank, and look down on thehouses

,nothing but the standing towers are Visible .

Once upon a time , during the Sikh rule , a KukiKhel Afridi led the Sikhs on and helped them tosurprise the village , and the residents had a very hottime Of it . In spite Of the strong hostility that prevailed between the Aka Khel , who mustered about

and the Sipah Afridis , whose numbers hardlycame up to half this , the Ilam-gudar Sipahs wereSplit up into two parties having a deep-rooted bloodfeud one against the other, and they nearly came to

1886-88 AFRIDI VILLAGERS 155

blows in my presence . Arriving at the tower whichlay nearest to Fort Bara , and having taken seven oreight of their men

,we went in a direction due west

through the open plain , keeping away from the riverand its habitations . Having completed the purposefor which we had gone out

,we returned along the

left bank towards Fort Bara,passing all the buildings

and towers . It was a good Old custom once generalthroughout India

,but which has disappeared in these

days,that whenever an English officer came to a

hamlet the village headman would come out and

Offer him a rupee,which he merely touched and

politely returned . This good custom ,I am glad to

say, Still holds good in the Khyber Range , and if thepeople know the Sahib

,they produce a sheep and a

handful of rupees and Offer them to the Englishguest . The custom is to put your hand on therupees

,thank the donor

,and ask him to keep them

for you until required . On this occasion we hadcarried out our duty with the inhabitants Of twotowers and their hamlets

,who happened to be

friendly to the Sipahs who formed our party fromthe start . Coming towards the third tower we saw

nine or ten armed men standing to receive us,and I

suddenly heard the click click of the rifles of themen with me

,each individual placing his piece at

full cock for instant action . This warned me thatwe were on dangerous ground . Sahib

,there will be

bloodshed if we do not look out,

’ cried Malik AfridiKhan ; so we stopped for an instant to see whatcould be done

,as the rival parties were now only

thirty yards apart, and up to that moment I had not

been warned of the two sides being enemies . Sending Afridi Khan to make a detour to our left with

156 IN THE KHYBER on. x

our party, I approached those who had just come outto receive me , and the usual formalities were gonethrough . I remained talking with them until AfridiKhan had got some two or three hundred yardsaway with his following . I asked all to returnquietly to their homes , which they did whilst I rodeafter and rej oined Afridi Khan . It was to me alwaysa pleasure to go to these Afridi villages

,but there

was an occasional drawback when some Peshawarioutlaw was produced and you were asked to Obtainhis pardon . However

,when they learnt that this

procedure w as distasteful to me,they gave it up . I

made it clear to them that no pleading on my partcould secure a pardon for the Offender.Sardar Muhammad Hassan Khan

,ex—Governor Of

Jelallab ad , had been in Afridi and Orakzai Tirahever since the commencement of the Shinwari revolt in 1883 , and had done his best to stir up theAmir ’ s subj ects against him . Owing to our formeracquaintance

,he opened up communications with me

and a sked me to obtain permission for him to j ourneyin safety through India to Persia . I did so

,and

pleaded his cause to the best of my ability,and in

time the sanction came , but with a reservation thaton no account would the sardar receive any allowance or pension from the revenues of India . Theseorders I communicated to him ,

and intimated that ifhe came to me I would see that he was not interferedwith . However, he preferred to carry out his ownways Of procedure , and riding quietly into the city ofPeshawar he got into the train and left withoutgiving me any notice of his movements . The nextmorning his horse was recognised as it was beingtaken by Ilam-gudar

,and I was apprised of what he

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158 IN THE KHYBER on . x

had arrived there with the first batch Of SardarMuhammad Ayub Khan ’ s friends

,and was in receipt

of RS . 1OOa month from us . I called and paid hima visit

,and had a long interview with him . He

left India again for some reason unknown to me ,and in 1895 he went to England in Sardar Nasrul laKhan ’ s suite , and is now one of H .H . Am ir AbdurRahman Khan ’ s most devoted servants at Caubul .Strange events occur in the history of these

frontier tribes . Outsiders will hardly credit someof the stories told

,but numbers of reliable witnesses

can testify to the veracity of the following one .Amongst Afridis and Pathans the disposal of a

widow lies in the hands of the nearest male relation to her deceased husband . If the son is of age ,Of course he is the first consulted ; but an Afridimother w ith a grown up son is not often of muchcash value in the Khyber market . If, on the otherhand

,the woman is attractive and the son very

young,the deceased husband ’ s brother, should he be

the guardian , either marries her himself or sells herto someone else . The widow of a Zakha KhelAfridi , living at

‘

Karamna in the Bazar Valley, foundherself in this unhappy predicament ; she had a

young son,and an exceedingly obj ectionable brother

of her dead husband to claim her in marriage or todispose Of her for cash . She therefore took thematter into her own hands , and fled to the countryof the Mullagoris , and married a man of her ownchoice . There is a very strong enmity between theZakha Khel and the Mullagori , and all the yearsthat I have had the management Of the KhyberPass arrangements I have never known them to beon friendly terms with each other . Some time before

1886-88 SHOOTING A STEPFATHER 159

1878 the females from the house of Malik Khwas Khanwent to fetch water from the spring at Shipola in theKhyber, and whilst there were surprised by a band ofMullagori raiders , who carried them off. Amongst thecaptives was a wife of the then Khan of Lalpura , andher sistermarried to Khwa s Khan . It took the utmostinfluence of the Khan of Lalpura , who had thencontrol over the Mullagoris , to secure the releaseof these ladies . This incident may have intensifiedthe feud between the two tribes . Coming back

,

however,to my tale ; the Mullagori who married the

widow from Karamna had no idea that She had left ayoung son on going to him , or, if he had , the recol

lection had passed out of his mind. The son,on the

other hand,grew up , and

, nourishing his wrath,

looked forward to a meeting with his stepfather,

having taken care to make himself acquainted withhis appearance . He was in the Khyber Jezailchies atLandi Kotal when one day he saw the man who hadmarried his mother , and he followed him , rifle inhand. The Mullagori , seeing that he was foll owed,a sked the young man where he was going

, and in

reply the latter pointed to a Shinwari village notvery far away. The Older man was put Off his guard

,

and as he was passing over some rough ground theyounger individual knelt down and fired his piece athim , inflicting a slight flesh wound . Drawing outhis long Afridi knife the wounded man chased thetreacherous lad , who was unable to reload

,into the

Shinwari village , whose residents secured both persons and prevented further damage being done

.The

Mullagori complained that , without any just cause orreason , the young man had tried to murder him closeto the Shinwari village . Having heard the charge

160 IN THE KHYRER on. x

the Zakha Khel shouted No cause or reason & Didyou not wed my mother without my permissionThe Shinwaris took care to let one depart a goodtime before the other, so as to prevent any furtherattempts on the life of the stepfather by his angrystepson .

The gateway of Fort Al i Masj id faces due southtowards the hills above Chora . The gateway isgenerally closed, the wicket only being kept open,and the sentry walks up and down the short passagethat shelters him from the west wind which blowswith such violence down the Pass . Exactly northlies the stupendous Rhotas Range

,which on the map

is marked over feet . The side facing AliMasj id rises up in sheer cliffs to feetoverhead . To the naked eye there is no path visiblewhich can take a human being to the highest crest ofthis ridge . When a Viceroy of India or other important personage paid a visit to Ali Masj id , a partyof six or seven men of the Khyber Rifles were sentup to this crest to hold it , and had to remain thereuntil the visitor moved away. It was about thespring of 1886 that a party of the Khyber Rifles wereseated on the ground sunning themselves by thegateway of Ali Masj id, and looking in the directionof Rhotas . The men had their own rifles , all

muzzle-loaders , with a few Enfields , and commenced

arguing whether a bullet fired from a rifle on the topof Rhotas would reach the gateway. One said to

another of the party & Go up with your rifle to thetop and fire it in this direction , and we shall seewhere the bullet goes . ’ The man addressed took up

his fifle , and after a laborious climb got to the crest .The bullet of the first Shot was not traced . The

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1886-88 THE AMIR’

S ELEPHANT 161

second,by the merest accident

,caught one of the

lookers-on in the forehead and killed him on the spot .There was no possibility of communicating betweenthe two parties by voice

,so when the marksman came

down he was astonished to see what he had done ,and more astonished still to find himself made a

prisoner . Some of the guard,however

,connived at

his escape,and he managed to get away . There

w as no occasion for this,as there w as no law or rule

by which he could have been punished .

In the spring of 1886 I had arranged to move ourcamp up to Tor-Sappar , which lies about seven oreight miles due north of our encamping ground at

Landi Kotal , which was nominally the Old caravanground

,roofless

,exposed to the sun and rain and

storms at all seasons of the year . We had stoppedat Tor-Sappar for two to three weeks in 1884 , butthis visit was curtailed owing to Sardar Aslam Khanhaving been selected to go with the Afghan BoundaryCommission towards Herat and P anjdeh, and variousparts of that quarter of Afghanistan .

Peshawar is very pleasant up to the end of April ,and it is not till about the end of the third week inMay that the heat makes a change to cooler climesnecessary . The Government of India had sent up asplendid elephant as a present for H .H . the Am irof Afghanistan

,and shortly after its arrival at Pesha

war the beast Showed Signs of being ‘mast . ’ Hemanaged to break away from his keeper and chains

,

and roamed at large for two or three days until hewas captured somewhere in Yusufzai and broughtback . Then his ‘ Mahaut ’ refused to put his footinside the precincts of Afghanistan , and the Amir

’ sOfficials at Peshawar had to send post-haste to

M

162 IN THE KHYBER on . x

Caubul and get one or two men down who wereaccustomed to train elephants . In a short timethese men arrived , and the huge animal

,appearing

to be docil e , was taken up to Jamrud,then to

Landi Kotal , and marched to Jelallab ad , where HisHighness had gone to in February to escape therigours of a winter at Caubul . On the j ourney thekeeper fed the elephant on such quantities of heatingfood that the day aft er its arrival at Jelallab ad theanimal became more ‘mast than ever

, and , tearingthrough the camp , destroyed one or two lives and

caused an immense deal of damage . Some timeafterwards I met the Amir ’ s Official who had been incharge of the party with this animal , and in the mostsolemn manner he affirmed ‘ that it was a mercy ofProvidence that the brute had gone mad the dayafter he had given up charge of it , for if his insanityhad come on twenty-four hours earlier his headmight have answered for the incident . ’

Lord Roberts , who had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Army in India duringNovember 1885 , visited Peshawar this spring and

j ourneyed up to Landi Kotal,where after a day ’ s

halt a trip w as made to P izgah. As we were re

turning to camp a very violent storm of rain cameon

,and poured in torrents for hours and late into the

night . It happened to be a caravan day, and largenumbers of Ghilzai Kuchi families were going back

from Peshawar to their homes in Afghanistan , andduring the twenty-mile march from Jamrud to Landi

Kotal, in this pelting rain , their women , girls , and

little children suffered very severely . The nextmorning we returned to Peshawar . I was greatly

pleased at this trip , for in Lord Roberts I found a

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164 IN THE KHYBER on . x

Malik Walli Muhammad Khan, and two troopers ,

started at 4 A.M . to do this j ourney. During theoccupation of the Khyber by military troops

,one

survey party composed of three companies of regulars

(natives) had carried on their operations through theShilman

,and a second party

, accompanied by a

guard of Similar strength , went through the Mullagoricountry. I was therefore anxious to see whether thefeelings of the residents towards us had undergoneany change . We were received with a very kindlywelcome throughout our j ourney. In other respectswe had a very distressing day, as the clouds disappeared by 10 A.H . , and a fierce sun came out andbeat down on our heads w ith great severity. Severaltimes I dismounted , and dipped my head into waterwherever it was to be found . Malik Afridi Khan hada slight touch Of heat-apoplexy . By 3 PM . we reachedthe house of Malik Kamran , in the Kam-ShilmanValley , and took shelter in his garden , but it w asnot till 8 PM . that we found ourselves back at

Tor-Sappar .The month of September found me again at

Peshawar, but I had to take Mr. Bensley, our CivilEngineer

,to see Landi Kotal, and to arrange for the

repairs to the various posts , which were now beingcarried on regularly every year . There had also beena similar provision made for the road, which was nowkept in excellent order , although the sum sanctionedfor twenty-five miles Of a road in the hills came onlyto £200 in English money. Our greatest enemy wasthe flood

,which swept down the Pass after every

very heavy rain, carrying away hundreds of yards of

the roadway. Against this enemy we had no remedy,

and could only exercise patience and begin the work

1886—88 A KHYBER CADET CORPS 165

afresh . The Opposition of the maliks by this timehad ceased. Malik Khwas Khan was the only culpritwho still carried out a tortuous policy, but only at

rare intervals now . He made one final attempt in1888, failed, and after that collapsed for good. TheForeign Secretary and Maj or Evans Gordon went upthe Pass

, and remained two nights at Landi Kotal .Mr . (now Sir Salter) Pyne

‘

also went through toCaubul

,to lay the foundation Of H .H . the Amir ’ s

arsenal and workshops . An d so in many waysprogress was being made in the Khyber .In the lines of the 1st company Khyber Rifles ,

at Landi Kotal , there was a smart , good-looking boyof about twelve

,whose name was Hathi . He was

an orphan,who made his living by going on errands

for the men,and except a sister about a year younger

than himself, living in one of the Zakha Khelhamlets

,he had no other relative in the whole of

Afridi land. He had a very handsome , taking face ,and all were kind to the orphan lad , for he seemedthen to have no mischief in him . When LordRoberts came up to Landi Kotal for the first time

,

this young man , on his own initiative, collected a

number of young boys , trained them according to hisfashion in presenting arms , and , dividing them intothree groups at intervals on the Khyber Road

,met

the Commander-in-Chief with a general salute . Thishappy custom

,thus started by young Hathi

, was

always carried out when any illustrious visitorsj ourneyed up to Landi Kotal . When the KhyberRifles were told off to attack the Gora Phar Hill inthe Black Mountain expedition Of 1888, this youngboy , who had gone through the campaign unarmed,behaved in the most gallant manner . He helped

166 IN THE KHYBER on . x

Sardar M . Aslam Khan to ascend the hill,helping

him at each step .

‘Get away,boy ; you will be killed ,

’

was the Sardar ’ s warning to him .

‘Never mind if Iam killed , you can throw my body into the nearestravine ,

’ replied the lad , and he stuck to his work andascended that terrible hill with the best of them .

The boy never knew what fear was . Later on heenlisted in the Khyber Rifles

,but was killed in a

brawl whilst absent on leave from his corps .The period had now arrived when arrangements

were about to be made for doing something inthe Khyber

,both as regards its defence and for the

purpose of improving its water supply . The Inspector—General of Military Works

, accompanied bythe Superintending Engineer Military Command,Rawal Pindi , proceeded up to Landi Kotal and

had a careful look over the whole plateau , makinga most minute examination of its defensivecapabilities . There are few positions so strong as

the Landi Kotal plateau looking westward in thedirection of Jelallab ad . It was from here thatNadir Shah , advancing at the head of a victoriousarmy strong

,w as kept at b ay for six weeks

encamped below Landi Khana , whilst a j oint force ofAfridis and Orakzai s barred his passage through theKhyber Pass . In these days we are apt to complainof the diffi culties that an army will have to ex pe

rience in the way of food transport if it steps intothe land of the Afghans ; but if history is to becredited , Nadir Shah , advancing from the direction ofPersia at the head of an army presumb lystrong

,chiefly cavalry, besieged and took Herat . He

then advanced on Candahar, and it took him a fullyear to conquer that strong fortress . A move was

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168 IN THE KHYBER on . x

the residents a chance of telling their women to keepaway from the presence of strangers . To whatevercause this contretemp s was due , Macdonald had togive up the trip , and came away much annoyed .

Later on the j irga apologised for the rudeness oftheir young men , and brought sheep and money asa peace Offering to Macdonald .

Al l this work in the Khyber,at Landi Kotal

,and

in the Afridi countryhad to be carried out without anyaid from the Government of the Panjab

, and if anyrebuff or stoppage occurred one had to take it cheerfully, and

,after exercising patience

,make another

attempt later on . An individual called KhayastaKhan Of Sarkai , one of the Kuki Khel Afridis , hadreceived several acts of kindness

,which he repaid

by interfering with some workm en employed onthe water duct near his house . Either on the dayof his contumacious behaviour

,or some twenty-four

hours later, he was walking about his fields whichlay in the ravine below his fort . Two of his enemiesissued out of Subadar Am ir Khan ’ s fort

,which was

some 600to 700yards up the ravine , and , creeping intothe water course

,dragged themselves to within some

400 yards from Khayasta Khan , who had no idea ofwhat was in store for him . Taking aim

,both rifles

cracked together, Khyasta Khan fell with a brokenleg

,and the women of his family , rushing out ,

carried him into his house . Subadar Amir ’ s menwere now in a perilous position . They lay flat in thenot very deep water course , whilst marksmen fromKhayasta Khan

’ s fort and from Jam sent bul letafter bul let at them . There they remained untilsunset

,when darkness enabled them to escape .

Later on I shall relate how Khayasta Khan was

1886-88 QUESTION OF WATER SUPPLY 169

revenged . I on my part told him that his broken legwas a punishment for his b ad conduct , after havingreceived SO many acts of kindness from us . Afterthis his behaviour was always excellent , and in 1889HE . Lord Lansdowne

,seeing him at Ali Masj id on

the occasion of the Viceregal visit to the Khyber ,very kindly directed him to be presented with a woodenleg

,to replace that which had been amputated .

In the summer of 1887 the Inspector-General ofMilitary Works , General Sandford , and the Superintending Engineer Military Works , Rawal PindiCommand

,Colonel (now Maj or-General) Lovett , and

Colonel R . M . Stewart went up to Landi Kotal withme

,and there was another long consultation over

what was required to be done . Mr . Macdonald and

another RE . officer were also there,making plans for

a fortified serai at the plateau . The former officerwas also directed to make a careful inquiry into thewater supply question at L oargi, and in the Whole ofthe Khyber Range northwards towards the CaubulRiver

,including the Shilman and Mullagori countries .

My portion of the duty was to see that Mr .Macdonald was protected whilst busy at this work ,and that no friction or unpleasantness should occurbetween the tribesmen and ourselves . SO far as Icould judge

,all suspicion as to our intentions had

disappeared,and if we required anything done a

good clear and true explanation of our purpose at

the commencement was always implicitly accepted .

Leaving Mr . Macdonald and his assistant to do theirwork at Landi Kotal

,the other officers j ourneyed

down to Peshawar,and the three who had come

from Simla and Rawal Pindi returned to theirstations .

170 IN THE KHYBER on. x

But a matter of far greater interest was now tobe carried out , and I fondly believed that it wouldbe really an accomplished fact . On July 12 , 1887 ,Mr . Baker, Engineer of the N.W. State Railway,came to my house and explained to me that he hadbeen busy on the survey of the railway extension fromPeshawar to Jamrud . Commencing at the Cantonment station , the line was to be carried behind theSaddar Bazar, round by the cavalry lines , throughthe southern portion of the Brigade Parade Ground ,and then , going westward , would cross the Jamrudroad near Burj -i-Harri Singh

,and so pass on to the

north of Fort Jamrud. I may say that five to six

surveys from the Cantonment and City stations weremade in as many years

,but on the last occasion Mr.

Mackinnon assured me that he had come to lay downthe line

,and asked my assistance in the way of

escorts . He lived for amonth or more_atmy quarters

at Burj -i-Harri Singh,and then suddenly departed .

Needl ess to remark, the Peshawar-Jamrud Railwaywas not in existence when the Afridi war of1897—1898 broke out .A strange episode occurred close to my house and

on the road leading from the cricket ground, passing in front Of the military prison in the direction ofMichni. I had occasion to Visit Jamrud, and havingbeen out the entire day, had returned late in theevening to Peshawar. I had not got up very earlythe next morning

,but my attendant called me , say

ing that a rough-rider of the battery under command

Of Maj or Dunnage , R.A.,had been fired at by a

Pathan on the road whilst exercising his horse .Fortunately the Ghazi fanatic , although he fired twoshots

,missed his aim and ran away. He was , how

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172 IN THE KHYBER on . x

on November 25 , and , like all such functions , was anexceedingly brilliant affair , representatives from all

the different tribes on the borders of Hazara, Peshawar

, Kohat , being in attendance, and they were each

in turn brought up and introduced to Lord Dufierin .

I have often wondered what the trans-border hillman thought of these darbars

, and in what lighthe considered them , when the pageant was over . A

darbar as we have made it and as it is, and as it was

understood in old Oriental Governments, are two

different things . The monotonous presentations at

last cam e to an end . There were two or threelaughing incidents in the march past , when theyoung son OfMuhammad Sherif Khan, the presentKhan of Dir, insisted on forcing his gold pieces onthe Governor-General . Then the Madda Khel j irga ,trooping by the Viceroy, all suddenly squatted downOn the carpet , much to the chagrin of the DeputyCommissioner who was in charge of the party. Lastof all the Assistant in the Kohat settlement, wholooked upon his large printed presentation card as aViceregal heirloom ,

to be preserved by his family forall time to come , and to be produced hereaft er as

a record of his good and faithful services , wouldShout out for his card (mira ticket) as we wheeledhim into his proper place in presence of Her Maj estythe Queen Empress of India

’ s representative , hislast cry being Mira ticket ,

’as he was pushed out

by the door of the tent . The darbar over, thecrowd soon dispersed

,when the Viceroy and the

g rand Officials cleared out of the great tent , and theonly lot who lingered were some hundreds of transborder men

,whose chap lis or shoes , made from the

l eaf of the dwarf palm ,had been taken offwhen they

1886-88 LORD BUFFERIN’S VISIT 173

were ushered inside the tent , and were now jumbledup in a huge heap

,where it w as impossible for any

individual to recognise what really belonged to him .

What of course interested me most w as theViceregal visit to the Khyber

,which came off

immediately after the darbar . The Viceroy and

Lady Dufferin , the Lieutenant-Governor of thePanjab and Lady Lyall, drove in carriages fromPeshawar as far as Ali Masj id . Lord Roberts andothers rode from Jamrud to the middl e of the Pass .Whilst Lady Dufferin and Lady Lyall stopped at AliMasj id to examine the fort, the Viceroy and the restof us

,mounting our horses

,made for Landi Kotal .

As I rode on the left of His Excellency,the Com

mander in Chief,who was on the right of the

Viceroy,said to Lord Dufferin , Warburton is most

anxious to have a road made from the Landi Kotalplateau

,which will go through the hills to the north

of the Khyber Pass and debouch into the PeshawarValley .

’ The Viceroy, turning to me , a sked whatwoul d be the advantages of this road . I replied thatif by any misfortune or disaster the Afridis attemptedto close the Khyber Pass

,the route from Landi

Kotal through the Shilman and Mullagori countryto Peshawar would always remain open and coul dnever be closed

,as those two tribes were far too

weak to make any attempt of the sort . And evenif the Khyber Pass did remain Open, it would alwaysin case of war westwards give us two routes fromPeshawar to the Landi Kotal plateau , and vice-cersd .

’

I shall touch upon this road question again whenI come to the year 1889. We had about thirtyfive riding in this cavalcade , His Excellency beingtaken to the General ’ s camp at Landi Kotal to

IN THE KHYBER OH. K

have a look down towards Landi Khana we thenretraced our steps to Al i Masj id . The dust

,however,

was SO great on the ride up and down that it washard to distinguish the features of the horsemen as

they dismounted at Al i Masj id to partake Of lunch .

The Viceregal carriage and escort turned into thePeshawar Mall by the club

,as it was getting dark .

It had been a pleasant visit without a single bitch,and I rej oiced that under my guidance a Viceroy ofIndia had been able to traverse up and down thewhole length of the Khyber, welcomed by its people .When the Khyber malik s had the honour of being

introduced to Lord Dufferin at Ali Masj id theya sked to be permitted to see Calcutta and some ofthe wonders of India

,and His Excellency promised

to accede to their request . I shall describe this visitin the next chapter.

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176 THE TOUR OF THE KHYBER MALIKS on . x 1

friend, Kazi Sayad Ahmad, Attaché at theForeign Office

,who made al l the arrangements for

housing my people under his roof during their stayat Calcutta . This was an excellent plan

,as the Kazi

was a native of Peshawar City, and understood the

language , customs , and religious views of his visitors .Being a Mussulman himself, he knew what theirwants were in the way of food , and lastly he couldwatch and be careful that they saw no sightsduring their stay at Calcutta which would bring intoodium the ‘ white man and his people . ’ I was

sheltered by Mr . P anioty, Assistant PrivateSecretary to HE . the Viceroy, a gentleman of greatabilities who had held this post under several successive Viceroys

,and whose hospitable house was always

Open to me . The situation , too , suited me exactly,as Government House w as close at hand, theForeign Office was across the street , and the PrivateSecretary ’ s office was in the building occupied by my

host .A day or two aft er our arrival at Calcutta there

was a garden party at Government House , and the

Khyber maliks were honoured with an invitation .

HE .Lord Dufferin received them with extreme

kindness , and , making careful inquiries after theircomfort and health , introduced them to the Governorof Bombay , and then , conducting them personally tothe refreshment tent

,directed the table attendants to

supply them with ices and cakes . I felt some anx iety

as to the result Of this , and as we were walking downI whispered in Pashtu to the Sipah chief, Take careyou do not obj ect to partaking of anything that isoffered to you , because nothing that is obj ectionablewill be presented to you ; for this I will be answer

1888 SIGHT SEEING AT CALCUTTA 177

able .

’ Sahib,

’ replied the Sipah malik,‘ if you give

us poison at this juncture , we will eat it . ’

An

immense crowd had by this time collected roundus

,and watched the Khyb eris with interest . The

refreshments over,the men asked permission to say

their prayers,and

, laying their lungis down on theground there and then

,looked in the direction of

Mecca,knelt

,and prayed .

During their stay in Calcutta they were taken tosee every place and obj ect worth Visiting . In thisw ay a day w as spent at the Howrah workshops

,

another at the Mint , a third at the Bank of Bengal .Then a visit to the small arm and cartridge manufac

tory at Dum-Dum , followed by a trip down theriver in a launch to the Botanical Gardens

, finishingOff with a lunch at the King of Onde ’ s Palace givenby his son-in-law . The Admiral also kindly permitted them to see an English m an -of-war. Theywere invited by the leading Mussulmans of Calcuttato a great feast . The head of the Telegraph Department received them in his palatial Offices

, and permitted them to send and receive a few messages fromtheir friends and relations at Peshawar . The firstmessages were of a hum-drum nature

,and it seemed

to me as if the Afridis thought we were trying tohumbug them . There was one man

,called Feroz

Khan , Malikdin Khel , who always looked as if ingreat pain . Whenever asked what was the matterwith him , he only answered ,

‘ I do not feel well .

’ Herequested that a message might be sent direct fromhimself, asking ‘ who at that moment were in

the telegraph Office at Peshawar . ’ The reply camealmost instantly that , with others , his maternaluncle , Malik Sarfaraz Khan , was at the Ofiice . The

178 THE TOUR OF THE KHYBER MALIKS on . x 1

next message was , How is‘

my uncle now ? ’ Theanswer came ,

‘ Quite well now ; the fever has gone .How is your boil ? ’ This message caused amusement as well as extreme surprise . The uncle hadbeen ill at his home in Chora when the nephew lefthim on this trip . The nephew was also sufferingfrom a very painful boil , about which he did not wishto speak either to his Afridi Companions or to anyone And when the telegraphic message from Peshawar revealed both the uncle ’ s recovery and thenephew ’ s disorder, the reputation Of the tar-barki

(telegraph) was established at once , and neverdoubted afterwards .The day of our departure came at last , and HE .

the Viceroy having seen all the Khyber maliks at a

final interview at Government House,we left Howrah

by the evening train for Bombay . Near Jubbulporethe maliks had a narrow escape

,the wheel of their

carriage having in some w ay been injured just beforewe reached that station . It was then 10 P .M .

,and

the carriage had to be taken off and replaced byanother . The guard said it was most lucky thatthe original carriage had not collapsed , or half theKhyb eris would have been killed or injured . However

,we reached Bombay in the morning without

meeting with any more dangerous adventures,and

placed ourselves under the guidance and management Of the late Sir Frank Soutar , Commissioner ofPolice . A magnificent residence had been provided,and from the roof of this building my wild men ofthe Khyber for the first time caught a glimpse of the

sea .

‘What is that , Sahib ?’

asked Malik WalliMuhammad Khan, Zakha Khel , pointing to theocean .

That is the Kala Pani [Tor-060 , i.e .

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180 THE TOUR OF THE KHYBER MALIKS on . n

passengers . I went to comfort the unhappyAfridis fora fewminutes , but we were all delighted when Karachiwas reached, and we had glided into its harbour safefrom all furt her tribulations from the sea .

We remained four days at Karachi, and theauthorities kindly allowed the maliks to see ManoraPoint , where they had explained to them the system ofharbour defences by the agency of sub-marine mines .The terrors of the sea voyage from Bombay toKarachi , however, were too much for Old Malik Sultan Muhammad

,Malikden Khel

, and nothing wouldinduce him to go near the sea again .

‘You may killme , Sahib , but I will never go near that Kala-Paniagain

,

’ so he was the only one of our party who didnot see the wonders of Manora Point .Leaving Karachi by the night train

,we journeyed

up through Sind , and by the Harnai route arrived atQuetta , where Sir Robert Sandeman made us at homefor four days . The weather was dreadful , heavysnow lay on the mountains , and the greater part ofthe Peshin Valley was white , whilst an icy cold windblew from the direction of the snow-covered Khojak .

Sandeman had served in the Peshawar Valley priorto and during the Amb eyla campaign of 1863 , andmany of the Khyber maliks were personally knownto him

,and he asked many questions as to what had

occurred in their midst and towards their countryduring the quarter of a century he had turned hisback on Afridi land . We left Quetta on a splendid

morning , and j ourneying this time by the Bolan rail

way, we reached Jacob ab ad , Sukkur, Montgomery,Lahore , and finally landed on the platform of thePeshawar Cantonment Station N.W.R. on Ash

Wednesday, February 15 , 1888. SardarAslam Khan

1888 INCREDULITY OF FRIENDS 181

and a host of relations and friends of the Afridimaliks were there to welcome us back . The malikswere dismissed to their homes at an early date inorder to visit their relations and tell them of all thewonders and strange sights they had seen in theirtour of six weeks through India .

Some three weeks after thi s Malik TarMuhammadKhan returned from Chora and appeared in my office ,looking very grave . Well

,have you told your

people all that you have seen ? I asked him .

‘ Yes,

Sahib,but they will not believe a word I tell them ,

so I have stopped answering their questions . ’

I have described the circumstance of the youthfulson of Muhammad Sherif Khan , Khan of Dir, beingpresent at the Viceregal darbar held at Peshawar onNovember when the lad wished in his childi shway to force his gold pieces upon the Viceroy . Hisfather had not come into Peshawar upon that occa sion .

But during the spring of 1888 H .H . Am ir AbdurRahm an Khan came once more down to Jelallab ad toescape the rigours of the Caubul winter, which generally begins to be exceedingly severe about the monthof February . Muhammad Sherif Khan , anxious tosecure the support of the Government of Afghanistan

,

Or thinking the j ourney would in some way be beneficial to himself

,moved into Jelallabad and appeared

before His Highness . Umra Khan of Barwa promptlystopped his return

, and in this wayMuhammad SherifKhan had to come to Landi Kotal, and march downto Jamrud and Peshawar

,to enable him to get back

to Swat and make a strike for his country, which hadbeen secured by the rapacious Umra Khan . This

182 THE BLACK MOUNTAIN EXPEDITION CH . x 1

incident is mentioned merely to show the reasons of

the Khan of Dir coming down the Khyber Pass .The month of August 1888 I always regard with

special respect , as this was the month in which thefortified serai at Landi Kotal was commenced . Captain Macdonald , whose work at Landi Kotal duringthe year 1887 has already been notified

,made all his

plans , surveys , collected all his data , and then wentup to Simla to lay them before the Defence Committee and the Inspector-General of Military Works .His programme was now ready

,and he was coming

down to introduce it . Hardly was it circulatedamongst the contractors at Peshawar that works wereto be commenced at the Loargi plateau , when MalikKhwas Khan

,Zakha Khel

,who was chief over half

the Zakha Khel Afridis and had a strong fort on theKhyber Road, made up his mind to give trouble and

prevent the works being started . He had no specialobj ection to such works being built anywhere in theKhyber provided they brought some money into hispurse , and money he loved beyond everything in thisworld . He had collected something like to

rupees,chiefly by depriving his tribesmen of

their share of the Khyber allowances for a series ofyears

,which allowances had been paid to him for

distribution to them,but the most of which he had

placed to his own credit . His brethren , according totheir savage fashion

,had worried and harried us in

every direction,because they were Cheated by their

chiefs,until at last Malik Khwas Khan and his rival ,

finding they could not control the action of theirpowerful clansmen in the Bazar Valley

,had asked for

their allowances to be handed over direct to their ownselected tribal representatives

, and then these Zakha

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184 THE BLACK MOUNTAIN EXPEDITION on . in

chief, with his party, to combine with him in Opposingthe building of the fortified serai at Landi Kotal

,the

game would be in their hands . However,at this junc

ture Malik Walli Muhammad Khan and the eldersof both Sides remained true to me

,and the works

were commenced and completed without a hitch .

On August 7 , 1888, Captain Macdonald,Sardar

Aslam Khan , and I j ourneyed up to Landi Kotal andpitched our tents near the site where the serai wasto be erected . It was not a site which I should haveselected had the choice remained entirely in myhands . There w as a cemetery to the south

,and a

ziarat with a second graveyard to the north of it ,which necessitated reducing the breadth of thewestern portion of the serai by about fifty yards ; andthere were other obj ections which should have beenconsidered when choosing this spot for such a building . However

,the selection had been made , and we

had to carry out orders . The extent of groundrequired w as measured Off, and its value fixed by the

maliks of the Loargi Shinwaris and the price paidto the owners . Captain Pringle

,of th‘e Royal Engi

neers , cam e up to do the building, whilst CaptainMac

donald,under directions from Simla

,was to carry out

other special duties , and , what was of the highestimportance both for us and the Loargi plateau , tomake a survey Of a road from the Landi Kotal seraithrough the Shilman and Mullagori countries to thePeshawar District , and lay it down Six feet broad . At

first our work remained at a standstill from naturalcauses , as there was not water in the large tank forus to m ake bricks from and

, secondly, our work hadj ust been started at the ‘ U llus Well ’ for bringingdown water to our camp , and as this entailed laying

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186 THE BLACK MOUNTAIN EXPEDITION CH . x 1

NOW further changes were in store for us . Whenthe Black Mountain expedition had been discussedin the Indian papers as likely to come off during theautumn of 1888, subsequent to the deaths Of Maj orRichmond Battye and Captain Urmston

,the corps of

Khyber Rifles had volunteered for service,and sub

mitted their application on June 30 to be employed inthe coming campaign . Nothing more w as heard of thisapplication until September 16

,when a telegram was

received from Simla directing 350men of the KhyberRifles to be sent to the front . Maj or Aslam Khanhad left on the 13th on a visit to his family in thecity of Peshawar , and a warning in accordance withthe Simla telegram was forwarded to him . Tentents , 135 men and Officers of the Khyber Rifles

,

with 100 mules were required from Landi Kotal , andhaving made the necessary selection

,the men were

paraded and I addressed a few words to them to thiseffect & ‘DO nothing that will bring disgrace or discredit ou the Khyber Rifles and myself . ’ They werethen marched down the Khyber Pass to Jamrud ,where they were to j oin the rest of the corps selectedto co -Operate with the British and native troops .On September 21 they left Peshawar by trainfor Hassan Abdal , and marched thence to rendezvous at Abb otab ad . Telegrams were also receivedregarding the movements of a British mission fromSimla towards Caubul , and I was asked to arrangeabout Shinwari mules to accompany the Britishofficers from Peshawar westwards . Just then w ar

broke out between H .H . Amir Abdur Rahman Khanand his cousin , Sardar Muhammad Ishak Khan ,Governor of Afghan-Turkestan , when the latter

’ stroops were defeated at the battle of Ghaznigak

,and

1888 THE KHYBER RIFLES 187

Ishak Khan , compelled to cross the Oxus , tookshelter in Russian limits . This unfortunate war

and the Amir ’ s approaching j ourney to AfghanTurkestan , which he had not seen since the springof 1880, are said to have prevented our missiongoing to Caubul in the year 1888. According toinformation brought down by the Caubul caravans ,E .H . Amir Abdur Rahman Khan left his capitalon October 25 to march towards Mazar-i-Sherif inAfghan-Turkestan .

I was compelled to j ourney down from LandiKotal to Peshawar on October 1, and my place wastaken up by my native assistant , Akbar Khan , asthere was still a chance of some friction with thetribesmen . However, we had been exceedinglyfortunate and lucky so far, and there was no reasonwhy friction Should come about now , when everything was making such excellent progress . DuringOctober the campaign in the Black Mountains pro

gressed , and both from the papers and letters newscame to hand that the men of the Khyber Rifles hadbehaved well in the various fights and skirmishesat Abu ,

Khund, Kunhar, Thakot , and Goraphar.

Colonel Ommanney, Commissioner of thePeshawar Division , who w as with General Sir J .

McQueen ,in the Black Mountain expedition,

wrote to me & ‘ Your Khyber Rifles have behavedadmirably, and have won the respect and confidenceof the General and all the troops you may well feelproud of the good work done by you in the Khyberin managing the Afridis so as to have led to theirvolunteering and acquitting themselves so well . ’ Butanother incident gave me even greater pleasure . Nota man of the Khyber Rifles had been killed in the

188 THE BLACK MOUNTAIN EXPEDITION on . in

various fights , and only five wounded . These menwere sent down to the hospital of the 3oth P .I . at

Peshawar, and when I went to see them , and askedhow they were getting on and Whether they were inneed of anything , one of them turned round and

said ‘We Khyber Rifles have not disgraced you,

Sahib , have we ?’ This was with reference to the

little speech I had made to them at Landi Kotal onSeptember 17 , when they were being Sent down toj oin their comrades at Jamrud

, and it was a treat“

to hear this and to know that the words had beenremembered .

The Khyber Rifles returned to Peshawar onNovember 26 and halted there one day, and underColonel Ommanney

’

s instructions the Municipalityof the city of Peshawar supplied them with a dinner .A kind, thoughtful act like this was greatly appre

ciated, and drew the soldiers to the man who had

considered their comfort and welfare on the eve

of their returning from service to their homes . OnNovember 28 they went on to Jamrud .

The following native Officers and men of theKhyber corps were rewarded with the Order Of Meritfor their services in the Black Mountain expeditionSubadar Maj or Mir Ak bar Khan , for conspicuousgallantry on the following occasions

1 . On October 8, 1888, at the attack on Abuvillage

,Black Mountain , in having single-handed

charged five or six of the enemy, and saved the lifeof a wounded Sepoy .

2 . On October 24 , 1888, at the attack on thevillage of Ghori , when he was the first man to enterthe village under a heavy fire .

3 . On November 1, 1888 , at the capture of the

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190 THE BLACK MOUNTAIN EXPEDITION on . x 1

attacks on the rearguard , been the last to leave hisposition, on each occasion allowing the enemy tocome to close quarters , and thus securing the retirement of his men .

Naick Habib , for conspicuous gallantry onOctober 28, 1888, in the vicinity of Thakot , BlackMountain , Hazara , in having , with three Sepoys ,captured a sangar occupied by the enemy .

Sepoy Akhtar Shah , for conspicuous gallantry onOctober 8 , 1888, in having , in the attack on the Abu

‘

village , been the first man to reach the Village undera heavy fire . On this occasion he was severelywounded .

No . 29 Sepoy Mir Abbas , and No . 583 SepoyAjar Din

,for conspicuous gallantry on November 1

,

1888, in having, at the storming of the GhoraphorPass

,Black Mountain , Hazara , been the first of the

Khyber Rifles to reach the crest .On the morning of November 29, 1888, HE .

the Commander-in-Chief in India with all his staffarrived at Peshawar, but unfortunately, an attack offever coming on , Lord Roberts was unable to j ourneyto Landi Kotal on December 1 . On that dateGenerals Elles and Chapman and stafi

, accompaniedby Sir Charles Dilke , rode there and examinedthe progress that had been made in carrying out theworks commenced in the month of August . It wasa great source of satisfaction that so much had beendone under the management Of Captain Pringle

,

who had besides made himself greatly liked by the

Shinwaris of the plateau .

A few days later, on December 6 , Captain Mac

donald , who had returned from the Black Mountain

expedition , was desirous of examining the Tangi

1888 A HAWKING PARTY 191

water supply,which is situated about two miles above

Kaddam . In fact,he wished to go to the same Spot

to which he was j ourneying in 1887 w ith Afridi Khanwhen the youngsters of Kaddam prevented him . Onthis occasion a long warning was given to the KukiKhels as to what our intentions were . We weregoing to Tangi

,and when the water supply had been

carefully inspected by the Engineer officer, we wereto have our lunch on the banks of the stream , and

then go back towards Peshawar,through the desert ,

stony plain between Burj -Harri Singh and the independent Khyber Hills

,and see whether we could not

secure an‘Obara ’ with the hawks belonging to

Sardar Aslam Khan and his second in command .

A large cavalcade started on this trip , consistingof Sardar (now Maj or) M . Aslam Khan

,Captain

Macdonald , R.E .

,Captain Trevor

,15th Sikhs

,and

myself,with Afridi Khan

,an escort of about fifty

of the Khyber Rifles,and a few troopers with the

hawksm en,besides some 200 of the Kuki Khel

elders .Talking and laughing

,the Whole party reached

the narrow gorge Tangi,through which the united

waters of the Chora and Al i Masj id streams dash,

before the water is taken into irrigation channels,and

distributed into the fields of the Kuki Khels ; but avery large proportion sinks into the ground

,and ,

passing under sand and stone , forms a fair sizedswamp some twelve miles down on the PeshawarMichni road . The examination of the ground and

the discussion with the j irga as to what Shoul d bedone with the bed of the stream to augment itswater supply being over, lunch w as discussed and weprepared to j ourney back . Our road to the stony

192 THE BLACK MOUNTAIN EXPEDITION on. x x

plain passed up the right bank of the ravine justbelow the Village of Uccb a (Dry) Gagri, so , partingwith the Kuki Khel j irga , we rode up the bank andj oined our troopers and the men in charge of thehawks . A line some 500 yards broad was formed

,

we dividing it at certain intervals , and,with our

faces towards Peshawar, we started to look out forthe bustard . Just then Maj orAslam Khan called outthat a shot had been fired at us

, as he had heardthe whiz of the bullet . Looking at the crest of thehigh conical hill above Tangi , from which the shot wasthought to have been fired, the distance seemed to meful ly to yards . We gave chase and firedsome shots towards the top of the mountain , hearingwhich disturbance all the Kuki Khel j irga camerushing to our assistance . But it was impossible andhopeless to capture an Afridi on a hill top yards

away besides,night was coming on rapidly , and we

had to ride twelve miles to reach our homes .Within two days the names of two oflenders

were disclosed to me , both belonging to the village ofKaddam . One was a son of a very venerable lookingelder

,Mulla Dostai by name , and the other was

a hamsayah of his both culprits were lads ofeighteen to nineteen years of age . The Kuki Khelj irga were told that in their attendance and presencethis outrage had been committed, and that they mustpunish the offenders . The j irga fined Mul la Dostai

Rs . 1 ,000 and brought the money in , and burnt the

house of the hamsayah.

Some months afterwards , when I happened to bestopping at Landi Kotal , both Mulla D ostai

’

s son

and the young man who had fired on us from the topof the hill came to see me on a friendly visit .

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194 THE SHILMAN ROUTE on . x n

estimate , and to reduce this the road was to be madetwelve feet Wide instead of fourteen

,until further

funds were available , when the additional two feetwidth could be arranged for. Colonels Hildebrandand Garwood came up to Peshawar

,and we j ourneyed

to Landi Kotal accompanied by Maj or Aslam Khan .

After a short rest there we travelled along the newroad which had been made by Captain Macdonaldwith a gradient Of l in 50. With the greatest easewe walked along this alignment

,across the L oargi

plateau , and dipped into the Kam Shilman Valley,halting the first night at a ruined hamlet between thevillages of Malik Kamran and Malik Jamal . Thesecond day I crossed the Dabrai Kotal , but ColonelHildebrand , obj ecting to the numerous zig-zags thathad to be made up and down that hateful hill

,went

round the bend over the Caubul River with his a ssistants , the precipices there being too much for me .

Maj or Aslam Khan and I were in camp at ShahidMiana when the four officers came in , and I couldsee from their faces that they had failed . CaptainMacdonald said to me ,

‘ If we cannot find a w ay

round by the river,they will never sanction a road

with these numerous zig—zags over the Dobrai Kotal . ’

Old Malik Papino , Of Shahid Miana , was watching uswith interest , and his fine stalwart son w as standingby his side . I said to the boy,

‘ I will give you a lungiworth 308 . if you will Show Macdonald Sahib a roadround that hill . ’ The lad said he would try , and

Old Papino , who had seen Macdonald repeatedlyplace lighted matches inside his mouth and close hislips

,firmly believed that he w as g ifted with super

natural powers , and grinned in response to his son’ s

reply.I did not like to stay an hour longer than w as

1889 ROAD MAKING STOPPED 195

actually necessary in this place , because the villagecultivation did not look more than three or fouracresin extent , and the old man was cutting down hisbarley with an ungrudging hand for our horses butwe were compelled to wait another twenty-four hoursand make one more attempt to circumvent the hill .The next day the four Officers made an early start

,

and were back in time for lunch , and from the look onthe face Of P apino

’

s son I felt sure he had succeeded,and so it proved . The third halt was at Lwara Miana

,

which had been twice visited before ; and on thefourth day, which w as March we descendedinto the plains of the Peshawar District . The tourhad commenced on the 11th

,and ended on the 19th.

With regard to the road , so far as I w as able toj udge

, after seeing every portion of it except thequota about a mile in length round the bend of theriver

,it w as even now six to eight feet in width

,

passing through shaley hills,which rendered the

working on them light and easy ; the gradient w asexcellent

, and all that w as required was to increasethe present width to twelve or fourteen feet to permittongas

,ekkas , and country carts moving up and

down . Everything w as ready , the coolies availablefor carrying on the work ; there was no friction ortrouble with the tribesmen about making the roadthrough their country

,or appropriating land for this

purpose , and all that w as necessary was for a command to come directing us to renew Operations andcomplete the work which had been already commencedand continued so far with success . A command didcome—to stay all further proceedings

,and under this

mandate a most useful and necessary work w as

stopped , and the arrangements for completing theo 2

196 THE SHILMAN ROUTE on . x x x

road scattered to the winds . We had cause to regretthis act afterwards

,especially in 1897 .

Leaving Jamrud at 10 PM . on M ay 31, 1889,Maj or Aslam Khan and I reached Landi Kotal at6 A .H . the following morning . We rode at a walkthe whole way, the darkness preventing our movingfaster . Our escort consisted of but two troopers

,and

the ride was weird in the extreme . Arriving at

Malik Khwas Khan ’ s fort , we sent a man to Obtain adrink of water, and soon the individual himself, rousedfrom his Sleep , appeared without anything on hishead . He and his sons had committed some outrageagainst a section Of the Zakha Khel Afridis living inthe Khyber, and they had turned on him and madeclose prisoners of himself and his family. An d forseveral months afterwards , when I desired to see theintriguing gentleman I had to send a party to theopposite Side to let him out

,except on Tuesdays and

Fridays,which were caravan days

,and then he coul d

j ourney out Of his own accord . At first I had a greatdread of these fights

,fearing that they might interfere

with the caravans ; but I altered my mind on theadvice of a friendly Shinwari chief, who said,

‘Letthem fight

,Sahib ; they will soon get tired of it , and

ask you to lay the stones (make peace) between them .

’

And so it proved . The men kept up their use of arms ,and got expert w ith their rifles , but they husbandedtheir ammunition , and after every petty fight theirdemeanour was more conciliatory, because money hadto be made and saved for a fresh supply of ammuni

tion purchased from wherever it was obtainable .The malik , having to supply all his own following ,was sometimes a loser to the extent of 300 to 400rupees for a couple of days

’

amusement, as his tag

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198 THE SHILMAN ROUTE CH. x x x

Opinion , or asking for an explanation from those whowere able to give it . When the morning meal wasannounced the people dispersed for their food

,and

then the regular work Of the day w as carried out till5 PM . Then came a walk, very often to and throughVillages , where all the people turned out to welcomeus and produced cots for our party to rest on .

Our warmest welcome came from the children,

who always shouted out the Afghan greeting,

‘ Mayyou not be tired ,

’ when we approached them . Towhich the proper reply was

,May you become great

or ‘ M ay you never be poor .’ If they saw our pro

cession coming anywhere near to their Village,or

resting on any ridge close to their hamlets , the littlefolk always ran down to meet us . As our acquaintance improved we arranged little feasts for them

,one

at the time Of going to and the other on returningfrom Landi Kotal . Two to three hundred children

,

chiefly boys (they would not bring girls over Six toseven years away from their habitations) , and a fewlassies would be collected, and twenty Shillings ’

worth Of native sweets would make them perfectlyhappy and please the mothers at home .

The lives of the grown-up girls and married

women amongst the Shinwaris might be taken as a

sample of the customs and habits amongst the fair sexin the trans-border independent land . During theeighteen years I was connected with these people inthe Khyber Range , I hardly spoke to a woman onmore than three or four occasions . A woman or girl

above ten years Old is never permitted to address anymale not connected with her by relationship . A

stranger has always to be avoided,and if by any

chance a woman comes across one in a narrow

1889 SIIINWARI WOMEN 199

lane or road , she generally covers up her face and

stands with her back towards him until he haspassed . At Landi Kotal all the women living in thevillages towards our serai used to collect in the earlymorning and proceed in a body to the hills in thedirection of the Bazar Valley

,and remain out cut

ting grass and wood until 3 PM,when they returned

homewards . If the Shinwaris were at war with theZakha Khel of the Bazar Valley, which was usuallythe ca se

,guards armed with rifles would go ahead Of

the girls and women,and take up positions most suit

able for protecting them . These outings were lookedforward to with great interest , and at these femalepic-nics they played their national games ; but woebetide the m an who ventured into their haunts

,for

then the males of the whole tribe had to sit inj udgment on the culprit

,who w as most lucky if he

e scaped with only a heavy fine in money . When thegirls and women had finished their work

,and wended

their way homewards with their loads of grass and

wood,the guards would follow in rear of the party

until they got out of the hills and separated for theirhomes .The Shinwaris would sometimes tire of this

guard duty, and become neglectful after being on itfor several weeks . It w as then that the savageZakha , who had been on the look-out for his Chancea fter months Of patient waiting

,would pounce down

on the defenceless women and carry Off some halfdozen or m ore . If the women got a fair start theywere more than a match for the men in running

,but

the Z akhas usually alarmed them by a display ofrifles , and through fear of being fired at several wouldallow themselves to be captured . Then the Shin

200 THE SHILMAN ROUTE CH. x x x

wari world was stirred up and raised a hue and crybut it was generally too late

, and many hundreds ofgood rupees had to be paid ere the Zakha Khelreleased the captured women .

On the night of August 31 I started by themidnight train from Peshawar and reached Simla at

PM . on September 2 , after an absence Of nearlytwenty-five years from that favoured hill station .

The last time I went down the road to Kalka w asabout the close Of July 1865 . My present trip wasundertaken with the special obj ect of finding outwhether there was any prospect of completing theLoargi

-Shilman—Mullagori road,which w as already

more than one-third finished . Al so to ascertain thereason of the inexplicable behaviour of the railwayauthorities with regard to the extension of the linefrom Peshawar to Jamrud why SO many surveyshad been carried out in the past five or six years

,and

on what grounds a railway engineer had lately beento Peshawar and assured me that he had receiveddefinite and final orders to lay down the rails toJamrud

,but

,after remaining about fourteen days

,had

cleared away suddenly,without sending me a word

in explanation Of his hurried departure . On September 4 I was invited to the Viceregal Lodge andhonoured with an interview by HE . the Viceroy .

Lord Roberts was also kind enough to grant me twointerviews

,and I was permitted to discuss the frontier

question . All I could learn was that Lord Lansdowne intended Visiting Peshawar and the Khyber,and that anymatters which had to be decided wouldbe settled on the spot

,and that I was to be in atten

dance at Peshawar when His Excellency would makethe Khyber trip about the end of October 1889 .

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202 THE SHILMAN ROUTE OH . x x x

Lansdowne stood by the wounded man ’ s cot makinginquiries after his injury

,Ism atulla said it was

nothing, and , baring his left arm ,showed His Excel

lency where two bullets had already left their markson him . The Viceroy shook the wounded man bythe hand, and directed that every care should betaken of him . The injured man

,however

,died on

the third day.

Mounting our horses,a start was made for Landi

Kotal , and on reaching the Zakha Khel Khyber therival factions lined their side of the road and respectfully saluted the representative oi Her Maj esty theQueen Empress of India . Landi Kotal was reached,and the maliks of the Shinwaris and of Shilmanwere in attendance to do their Share of similar duty.

I then took His Excellency two miles higher to thepoint of Pisgah

,where a glorious panorama lay

revealed before us . On our left,commencing with

the lofty peak forming the western limits of Bajgal ,the snowy Safed Koh extended westwards for overone hundred miles . To our right was the whitemass of Kafiristan mountains , extending northwardsinto a sea of snowclad tops , representing ranges inBajawar and towards Chitral . TO our right front

and far away below flowed the Caubul River, pastthe Koh-i-Bedaulat , going west to east , making itsnorthern bend at Kam -Dakka . The dark arenabelow us was the Valley of Jelallab ad , bounded onthe extreme east by the Karkatcha Range and themountains of Laghm an . I would not willingly have

missed this ,’ His Excellency exclaimed in adm iration

of the View . Turning back to Landi Kotal , it was a

good ride of thirteen miles down the Pass before we

reached Ali Masj id , where we found the Marchioness

1889 GRAND PARADE 203

of Lansdowne,attended by Colonel Ommanney, the

Commissioner,and Captain Brazier Creagh . After

lunchHisExcellencywent down the line of the Khybermaliks

,and asked the name and history of each .

Bidding adieu to all,the Viceregal party j ourneyed

towards Peshawar, which was reached at PM

I may note that all the excellent arrangementsfor their Excellencies ’ Visit to the Khyber were madeand carried out by Captain Inglis and Maj or AslamKhan . My leave had not expired, and although

,in

obedience to orders,I had to attend

,it was merely

as a spectator . The whole credit Of doing everythingthat helped to make this trip so comfortable and

pleasant for the illustrious Visitors was due solely tothe exertions of these two officers and the nativeOfiicers and men of the Khyber Rifles .

A grand parade w as to be held on the greatBrigade ground facing the Khyber Hills at 11 A.M .

the next day (October and His Excellency theViceroy had kindly expressed a wish to personallydistribute the orders of merit to the six men of theKhyber Rifles whose names have already been givenfor their gallant conduct during the Black Mountainexpedition of 1888 . The Khyber Rifles

,about 350

strong,under command of Maj or Aslam Khan

,

were to take part in the ceremony with the regulartroops . They were drawn up on the left of the linein open order when the Viceroy and Commander-inChief in India rode on to the ground

,and after the

usual inspection was over,and the Governor-General

with all the staff had taken up their positions at thesaluting point

,there came the march past

,the

infantry going by in grand companies,returning in

close column , and then going past at the double .

204 THE SHILMAN ROUTE ox . x x x

This was the ordeal I dreaded for the Khyber Riflesin the face of a critical audience

,for the men had

had no experience of drill of this nature,for

,being

scattered over a length of twenty-fives miles and

employed six times in the week on caravan duty,it

was difficult, if not impossible, ever to get a suffi cientnumber together for ornamental parade movements .But the Khyb eris , under their gallant commander,did right well, and I rej oiced to see them go past , asthe Regulars did, in correct dressing and distance ,with heads erect and eyes looking straight b eforethem . An Afridi

,accustomed to wearing shoes

made of the dwarf palm,invariably keeps his eye

fixed on the ground as he walks, and it requires a

good bit of training and correction to break him ofthis habit . After the march past the Khyber Rifleswere brought back and halted in front of the Viceroy .

Lord Lansdowne pinned the Order of Merit to thebreast of each man entitled to receive that rewardfor his bravery, and then addressed a kindly speechto His Excellency the Comm ander-in-Chief regardingthe conduct of the Khyber corps and their servicesin the Black Mountain , which Lord Roberts directedme to translate to the Commandant , which I did inPersian

,and Maj or Aslam Khan repeated it in

Pashtu .

By a piece of good luck we had been relieved from

a serious dilemma . When the case containing thesix Orders of Merit arrived at Peshawar it w as not

Opened and examined , but placed for safe keepingin the Peshawar Treasury . On October 30, when

Opened , we found that by some mistake no ribbons

had been sent . Here w as a dilemma & The parade

was at 11 A.M . the next day, and no possible chance

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1889 FIGHTING AMONGST SHINWARIS 205

of purchasing the ribbon required either at Peshawar,

Rawal Pindi, or Lahore . Fortunately the nativeorderly officer to Sir J . Lyall

,hearing of the trouble

I was in , very kindly gave me enough for my wantsand relieved my anxiety . An d nothing would inducethe fine Old Sikh to accept anything in return for hisgoodness . It was enough reward for him to knowthat I was grateful for his considerate act .

His Excellency Lord Lansdowne was the secondViceroy I had the honour and privilege of takingthrough the entire length of the Khyber Pass withina period of two years .The Marquis and Marchioness of Lansdowne and

the Commander-in-Chief, with their respective staffs ,left Peshawar by special train on November 1, andthe Lieutenant-Governor , Panj ab , with his secretaries ,departed the same d ay for Lahore . The Viceregalparty were to halt at Attock , and then go down theIndus in boats

,and do the whole frontier as far as

Quetta before returning to Calcutta . Meanwhile, a

few days ’ fighting amongst the Shinwaris at LandiKotal interfered with the working of the ‘U llus

well ; but this was satisfactorily arranged for by ourtaking up the question , and telling the people thatthey might fight if they liked, but the working of thewell was not to be interfered with . This order hadthe desired eflect , for in nearly every case the savageof the independent hill s was clever enough to interrupt our work by his inter-tribal quarrel, so as to forceus to interfere between them ,

and by our influence

and power decide the question which had caused theuproar .A piece of very b ad new s came to hand this

month, and that was that the completion of the

206 THE SHILMAN ROUTE CH . x II

Landi Kotal-Shilman—Mullagori road was to beshelved for the time being

,because the Government

desired to have,first of all

, a survey carried out for arailway from Peshawar to the right bank of theCaubul River facing Fort Michni, and then up thestream

,Within our limits only

,towards Dakka . I

felt certain that this road—Which w as of Vital importance for the defence of the Landi Kotal plateau; andwhich was absolutely necessary whether the CaubulRiver railway was made or not—w as now doomed tobe set aside altogether

,and so it was .

The months of November and December passedaway without producing anything of extraordinarynotice or importance. The new year came round,and it was my good fortune to find my name in theHonours Gazette as a Companion of the Star ofIndia . I knew to whom my thanks were chiefly duefor this recognition Of my humble services—namely,to his Excellency Lord Roberts

,Commander-in-Chief

of the Army in India .

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CHAPTER XIII

THE VISIT OF PRINCE ALBERT VICTOR

IN the early part of January 1890 rumours reachedPeshawar that there w as a chance of H .H.H . PrinceAlbert Victor

,Duke of Clarence and Avondale

,visiting

the Peshawar Valley, which rumours became certaintyon the morning of the 3oth of that month

,when His

Royal Highness , accompanied by Colonel Sir E .

Bradford, Captains Holford, Edwardes , and others ofhis suite , arrived at the Peshawar Cantonment Stationof the N.W . State railway . He was received byColonel Ommanney, Commissioner of the division ,the General Officer commanding the district

,and the

leading local officials . After the usual formal introductions His Royal Highness drove with ColonelOmmanney to the Commissioner

’ s bungalow,where

he was to stay during his brief visit of two days .There was a luncheon and garden party afterwardsat the Commissioner ’ s , to which the whole world ofPeshawar w as invited and went . I had then thehonour of nearly an hour’ s interview with the Prince ,who asked me many minute questions regarding the

affairs of the Khyber Pa ss and the frontier tribes,

telling me that it was his wish to go through thePa ss on the following day, when ,

’ he added, I shallhave more time to enter further into these matters .

’

That evening the Royal Irish Regiment entertained

208 THE VISIT OF PRINCE ALBERT VICTOR on . Jun

His Royal Highness and his Staff at dinner ; and

although the party did not break up until past midnight, the start for the Khyber was made shortlya fter daylight . At 6 A.H . the Prince took his seaton the Royal Artillery drag , and we proceeded toJamrud . Here the Prince had agreed to receive anddecorate certain Native officers who had distinguishedthemselves in the Black Mountain expedition . Theceremony was briefly but effectively gone through

,

His Royal Highness pinning the medals on the breastsof the recipients and afterwards making a short com

plimentary speech to them which I interpreted . Thisaddress from the Prince w as repeated by my deputy

,

ColonelAslam Khan , to the whole body of the KhyberRifles

,copied into the regimental order book

,and

again read at two separate parades . The kind andgraceful manner OfHis Royal Highness was greatlyappreciated and much talked of afterwards by theNative officers and men .

As it was considered advisable that the Princeshould get through the Pass and back before sunset

,

we moved on quickly to Al i Masj id. This was notfrom any apprehension of danger from the tribes , but ,the most trying time of the day in the PeshawarValley being just at sunset , when, owing to the rapidfall of the temperature there is liability to suddenchills

,it was only a wise precaution taken for health

’ ssake .

During our progress His Royal Highness ques

tioned me frequently, desiring me to point out tohim any famous spots in the once dreaded Pass . He

a sked to be shown where the fight had commenced onNovember 21, 1878, when the troops under Sir Sam .

Browne proceeded to attack Ali Masj id . This withthe position taken up by the heavy guns when they

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1890 AN HISTORIC SPOT 209

Opened fire against the fort was shewn to him . As

we came down the road from the Shagai ridge whereit first touches the bed of the Ali Masj id stream ,

thesmall water-mill on the right bank facing the roadwas also pointed out . Hundreds of visitors pass andre-pass this tumbledown Old water-mill

,with its two

or three stunted mulberry-trees,without knowing or

heeding that it is a spot of historic interest so far asBritish India and Afghanistan are concerned . Forit w as there

,under those stunted mulberry- trees

,that

the meeting took place between C avagnari, as theEnvoy of the Viceroy

,and Faiz Muhammad Khan ,

Sher Al i ’s Governor of Ali Masj id , when the requestthat the British mission to Caubul should be allowedto advance was refused ; a refusal which brought onthe w ar with Afghanistan—a war which entailed thesacrifice of so many lives on both sides , and whichcaused an expenditure Of two hundred millions ofrupees from the revenues of India . It was a momentous meeting

,and Cavagnari, knowing how great were

the issues which hung on every syllable of his,did all

that tact,forbearance , and courtesy could do to win

over the stubborn representative of the Amir . Butthis was not to be . You are setting Afridis againstAfridis to cause stI ife and bloodshed in this country

,

yet you call yourselves friends shouted FaizMuhammad as he closed the interview and declaredthat his master w as prepared to take the couse

quences . They were not long in coming . TWO

months to the very day on which that interview tookplace Ali Masj id was abandoned before the advanceof the British troops

,Faiz Muhammad a fugitive

,

and his master quaking on his throne . But saddestof all the reminiscences connected with that meeting

P

210 THE VISIT OF PRINCE ALBERT VICTOR CH . XIII

is the recollection that it was the prelude to thetragedy which closed the life and promising career ofthe brave and brilliant diplomatist Louis Cavagnari.

At Al i Masj id the Prince and party halted forbreakfast , and we then started for Landi Kotal alongthe new road by the cliff

,intending to return by the

Old route through the bed of the stream,the nar

rowest and most beautiful part of the Khyber Pass .Katta Kushtia

,where the turning movement was

made by the Guides and l st Sikhs of General Mac

pherson’

s Brigade,when

,after a march Of twenty

four hours,their appearance caused the evacuation

of Al i Masj id,and the small bend round the rock

where some three hundred of the Amir ’ s troops werethen made prisoners

,were shown to His Royal High

ness . Then passing on to the Ziarat of Gurgurra

(Sloe-tree) where the Zakha Khel boundary beginsa guard from the tribesmen holding the blockhouseon the right-hand side—the Prince w as Shown thelonely Shrine , about which were heaped loads of woodand other things all unguarded , for no true Mussul

m an would think oi stealing even a straw from theprecincts of a sacred shrine . But the story of thisshrine is a curious one . The Zakha Khel Afridisbear a most unenviable name as being the greatestthieves

,housebreakers , robbers , and raiders amongst

all the Khyber clans , their word or promise neverbeing believed or trusted by their Afridi brethrenw ithout a substantial security being taken for itsfulfilment . Naturally a race so little trusted werenot fortunate enough to possess a holy man whosetomb would have served as a sanctuary to swear byand thus save the necessity of the substantial security .

One day, however , a Kaka Khel Mia came into their

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1890 CREATING A ZIARAT 211

limits with the Obj ect of seeking safe conduct throughtheir territory to the next tribe . They received himwith all politeness

,but finding in the course of con

versation that he was of saintly character—a holyKaka Khel Mia—they came to the conclusion thathe was just the individual wanted to put theircharacter for truthfulness on a better footing . Theytherefore killed him and buried him

,making his tomb

a shrine for all true believers to reverence,and a

security for themselves to swear by & The ZakhaKhel chiefs of the present day do not admit that theholy man was murdered in the manner described ,but say that he w as attacked by some Shinwariraiders and died of his wounds . However

,there

stands the shrine .

Leaving it,the j ourney through the Pass was

continued . At Malik Khan ’ s fort and on the road tothe south of Malik Walli Muhammad Khan ’ s therival factions stood to salute and welcome His RoyalHighness . The Prince was particularly struck withthe three young sons of the latter—lads aged five ,seven

,and eleven years

,who walked

,spoke

,and

behaved with that quiet,refined dignity which seems

inherent in high-born Oriental youths .At Landi Kotal the Khyber Rifles were formed up

as a guard of honour and the Shinwari chiefs werepresented . Here we rested for a short time

,and the

Prince made me point out to him all the places oflocal importance or interest . He had evidently wellread up the history of the Khyber

,and showed by his

intelligent questioning that he simply wished to becorrected concerning any points or details which hewas not quite certain about . We then rode back toAli Masj id , taking the route through the watercourse

P 2

212 THE VISIT OF PRINCE ALBERT VICTOR ox . x x x x

and the narrow channel immediately below the fort ,which I always regard as the finest and grandest partof the Pass . After lunch and the presentation ofseveral Afridi maliks and jirgahs , a start was againmade , and at sunset we were at Peshawar .Thus this anxiously looked for and interesting

trip of His Royal Highness through the Khyber Passof such evil fame of old

, was successfully made andconcluded .

That evening the Prince dined with the Generaland started at midnight by special train for RawalPindi to witness next day a grand review and marchpast of all the troops at that station . I was given a

seat in the same train,and my friend Malik Walli

Muhammad Khan , who had hurried down from theKhyber in our wake

,went to Pindi by the ordinary

night train to see the tamasha also . I had a goodposition at the review close to the flagstaff

—LordRoberts

,the Commander-in-Chief

,having kindly

called me up to the carriage in which he and

Lady Roberts were seated ; His Excellency was

incapacitated that day from mounting a horse owingto a strain in the leg which he had met with tent

pegging at Muridki camp of exercise . The Prince,

after being received with the usual salute , placedhimself on the other side of the Chief ’ s carriage andthe march past took place . At its conclusion it w asnoticed that in the space allotted to Native spectatorswere Muhammad Ayub Khan and some of the AfghanSardars and Chiefs who had followed his fortunes , andwho were now closely watching the soldiers againstwhom they had lately fought and been defeated by .

A few words which I did not hear passed betweenHis Royal Highness and the Commander-in-Chief,

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214 THE VISIT OF PRINCE ALBERT VICTOR CH . x x x x

everything fail he has been brought to Pindi and keptthere as a pensioner of this Government . And now Ihave seen the future King of England and ruler ofIndia go forward and in my presence and sight salutehis own captive It was a noble act 1 It shows thatyou English are fit to be rulers of this country .

’

Within less than two years after this the telegraphwire flashed the fatal news to Peshawar that PrinceAlbert Victor was no more . Carried into the defiles ofthe Khyber the savage residents of that range sym

pathised too with the Englishmen who mourned .

Having seen with their own eyes his kindly,courteous

demeanour,his fearlessness in mixing amongst their

armed throngs , and having heard of the incidentat Rawal Pindi , there w as genuine regret amongstmy stern

,unemotional wild men

,and the prayer

‘Would that the Almighty had spared the Shahzada was echoed by many in and about the KhyberPass .

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216 THE CAUBUL RIVER SURVEY CH x x v

through their lands,and hand him over safely to the

care of the Shilman elders when he entered theirterritory . Two hundred men of the Khyber Rifles

,

under command of one of our best native oflicers ,

Subadar Ghalli—the same who had

received the Order of Merit for distinguished braveryon six different occasions—were to j oin CaptainMacdonald ’ s party at Warsak . My advice to himwas under no consideration or temptation to crossover to the left bank of the Caubul River, or to enterany territory belonging to the Government of theAmir Abdur Rahman Khan , because then complications would most certainly arise . To enter into thecountry of the ‘ God-granted Government

,

’ or tocross the river to the left bank

,would be foolish . It

is necessary to diverge a little to explain themistakes that followed .

By the treaty of Gandamak, Signed on M ay 26 ,

1879, by Muhammad Yakub Khan , Amir of Afghanistan

,on his own part

,and by Maj or P . L . N .

C avagnari, on the part of the British Government

,the control of the Khyber and Michni Passes ,

which lie between the Peshawar and Jelallab ad Districts

,and of all relations with the independent tribes

of the territory connected with these passes , wasto be retained in the hands of the British Government . In accordance w ith the above treaty, theright bank of the Caubul River, from Samsai tothe spot where it touched the Khalil lands in thePeshawar District , had been taken over by ourGovernment and formed a portion of the Khyberpolitical charge . For eleven years the terms of thistreaty had been fully carried out , and had beena ccepted by Yakub Khan when Amir, and after him

1890—91 TARAKZAIS AND HALIMZAIS 217

byAbdur Rahman Khan but now two petty sectionsof the Mohmands living on the left bank of theCaubul River, and who have large possessions in thePeshawar District , came forward to contest our rightof action , both in the Mullagori and the Shilmanlimits

,on the grounds that they had a right to Share

in any benefits which might accrue from our surveying for and making a railway up the right bank of theCaubul River

,within British rights . It may further

be noted that the deep Caubul stream entirelyseparated these claimants from the Valley of Shilmanand the uplands of the Mullagori country. Thesetribes were the Tarakza i and Halimzai sections ofthe Mohmand s , who live in the country outside of andto the west of the Peshawar District from the CaubulRiver to Fort Abazai . The Tarakzais live in the

quarter due west of Fort M ichni and north of theCaubul River

, and are presumed to have an armedstrength of some men

,but they have fourteen

Vil lages w ithin the Peshawar District,covering about

acres . The Halim zais come next with an

armed strength of men,but they have only one

village of acres outside their own countryin British territory. Contrary to all representations , the j irgas of the Tarakzais were first permitted to cross the river and attach themselves toCaptain Macdonald ’ s camp on the right bank

,with

which these people had no concern . To those whosaw this procedure in another light

,the best way to

have prevented the Tarakz ais from interfering withCaptain Macdonald ’ s movements was to have warnedthem that if a single Shot w as fired from the leftshore of the Caubul River all their free grants in thefourteen villages would be attached . Or, if they

218 THE CAUBUL RIVER SURVEY on . x IV

desired to show their zeal,they could locate their j irga

on their left bank , until such time as the Britishsurvey party on the right bank had finished workand passed away from the country facing their bank .

For it could not‘

be doubted for a moment that theTarakzai j Irga , by remaining on their own shore , werein a better position for controlling the unruly members of their section than by crossing a deep riverand going to the Opposite bank . Captain Macdonaldleft Peshawar on February 7 , and four days laternews came to hand that Mullah Khalil

,a regular fire

brand of the Afghan war of 1878—80, who w as inreceipt of a pension of RS . from the AfghanGovernment

,and w as living in the Mohmand country

at this period , w as stirring up the M ohm ands to resistthe survey party . Representations were again madeby the Khyber Officials that the proper w ay to preventthe M ohm and s , who were supposed to be under theAm ir ’ s rule

,from attacking our party was to write to

the Sipah Salar and explain to him the whole position

,and ask him to do what w as needful in prevent

ing Mullah Khalil and his Mohmands from interferingwith us in our own country . This was done later onafter much delay , but in the meanwhile there w as a

good deal of fighting between Captain Macdonald’

sguard after passing the Kam Shilman ravine and the

Mohmands on the other bank, and for ten or elevendays the firing from both sides w as brisk . Then theorder came from the Afghan Commander—in—Chief,and the Mohmand opposition vanished at once .

When the fighting w as all over, and four days after

the last shot w as fired , the Halimzai j irga walked intoCaptain Macdonald ’ s camp . At Peshawar six weekslater these men threw down at the Deputy Com

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220 THE CAUBUL RIVER SURVEY CH . x x v

patience , and some three or four Khyber maliks weresent out to argue with and try to bring the youngman to reason . But when he attempted to stop thePeshawar khafila on the caravan day, and his tagrag had to be brushed aside by the Khyber Riflee scort, the matter assumed a different aspect . Thewhole united Khyber j irga fined the Kuki Khels

rupees , and owing to the constant trouble and

fighting about the distribution of their allowances ,had it handed over in their presence to selected eldersrepresenting each section . And in this fashion thistroublesome j ob came to an end ; how troublesome itwas will be described when I come to the chapter onAmin Khan and his final escapade in 1892 .

Some 120Mohmand s came stealthily one nightfrom the village of Lalpura

,during April 1890, and

tried to Secure the person of Armia Khan , Malik ofthe Mandezai Shinwaris

,who had taken shelter in a

Shinwari fort at Landi Kotal just below Pisgah, thefurthest enclosure in the direction of Afghanistan .

The guard in the fortress,not knowing what this

g ang had come for, fired at and killed one of theMohmands , on which the rest scampered down thehill side . A day or so later travellers coming upfrom Dakka and Lalpura explained why and forwhat purpose these Mohmands had come into ourlimits . It was useless to make any representationsfor redress .On May 23 , 1890, Maj or Aslam Khan, Mr . Barrat ,

a ssistant engineer, and I reached Tor-Sappar, whichwas to be our home for the next three or fourmonths .Tor-Sappar, to my mind, was a place of very greatadvantage to us . It w as a natural hill-fortress ,capable of holding soldiers (Europeans) , with

S IR ROBE RT WAR BU RTON AND L IEUT COL. ASLAM KHAN, C l.E

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2 22 THE CAUBUL RIVER SURVEY CH. x x v

presence , they had gone away down the KhyberPass to Peshawar, and left us to our own resources .Subadar Maj or Mauladad Khan

, who had

now retired on a pension from his regiment,the

2oth Duke of Connaught’

s Own Panjab Infantry,

had been with us from the very first day of ourreaching Tor-Sappar, and had remained till the dayof our departure . We had our daily visitors inmaliks and j irgas from the Afridis

,Shinwaris

,

Shilmanis , and Mullagoris , the last three predominating , a s we were nearer to their countries . Wehad reached our summer home for 1890 on May 23,and on the morning of September 15 we made ourstart for the Loargi plateau , and then descended intothe Kam Shilman Valley, a descent of aboutfeet

,and halted for the night at the Village of Malik

Kamran . This was the last time we had the pleasureof accepting this kind , good man

’ s hospitality,for

when our party went to Kam Shilman again myfriend had been carried off by fever. He was a greatloss to me

,for in all the years I knew him he had

never once tried to deceive me , and what little hehad to give he bestowed with a generous, ungrudgingheart and for the sake of the Sarkar. F rom thecold of Tor-Sappar we had suddenly jumped intothe heat of a confined valley ; however, it was verypleasant in the shade , and the nights were cool .The next morning we ascended the Dabrai Hill

,and

descended into the Shahid Miana Valley,which was

to be our encamping ground for September 16 . The

Dabrai Hill is another spot where Europeanscould be well and safely located for the summermonths

,in a climate far more suitable for them

than either the Gullies , Murree , Dalhousie , Simla ,

1890-91 SHAHID MIANA 223

Mussoorie,or L andour, hill stations with which I

am well acquainted .

Hitherto on all previous soj ourns at this dreadfulspot , Shahid Miana (which means the hamlet ofthose who had sacrificed their lives) , our camphad been pitched alongside the road, but on thisoccasion , hearing of the excellent spring about a

mile or more up the ravine , our party went toinvestigate pending the arrival of our baggage .

What a change as w e penetrated the gorge forsome distance & The hill sides were perfectly greenwith grass , and very large trees , imported fromHindustan

,for they did not belong to the Khyber

Range , abounded, showing that once upon a timesome resident of these hills had made a good gardenin this sheltered locality . And

, what was of evengreater interest , a splendid spring , givinggallons of water daily , gushed out of the mountainside . The Springs issuing from the mountains in theKhyber and Tartarra Ranges are generally warmerin .the autumn , w inter

,and spring seasons than

the waters that lie on the surface , and on thisaccount the residents name them hot springs

,but

during the summer season they are cold . Everydrop of this abundant spring sank into the sands andstones , and , flowing underground, fell into the watersof the Caubul River, about a mile to the north-eastof Shahid Miana . A very pleasant halt was madeon the side of the ravine facing the spring

, and whenour baggage arrived we made this spot our restingplace for two entire days . On September 18

&wej ourneyed to and encamped at Lwara Miana . Inthe tract between these two stations there are placessuitable for locating Europeans or even more

224 THE CAUBUL RIVER SURVEY an . x xv

during the hot months,with abundance of water .

The band of the Khyber Rifles,consisting of Afghan

pipes and drums , played during the days of our SO

j ourn for two hours every afternoon, and attracted

some 300 lads round them ,whilst the housetops were

dotted with figures in black,show ing that the Mulla

gori ladFBS were partial to music . On the last nightthere was a huge bonfire , which lit up a burlesqueperformance , aided by the pipes and drums

,and

which lasted some three hours,witnessed by a large

admiring audience . I expect that night of September 19, 1890, will long be remembered by thesesimple people of the Tartarra Range . The next dayI went into Peshawar

,whilst the escort and band of

the Khyber Rifles marched into Jamrud .

The month of October passed without anythingextraordinary taking place . A large camp of exercise

w as about to be formed at Khyrab ad , which w e were

all looking forward to , as this would give me a

chance of letting the Khyber maliks and elders see

a really grand march past of all our three armsin great force . His Excellency the Viceroy and

Governor-General had kindly given permission tothree native Officers of the Khyber Rifles to godown to Calcutta at the Government expense , and

I had hoped to take privilege leave of absence aboutthe same time and j ourney with them . This leave ,however

,was refused by the Panjab Government on

the ground that my services could not be spared .

Besides,Mr . O’

Callaghan , Secretaryto the Government of India for State Railways ,was expected very early in November, and I had totake him up to Landi Kotal , and then down by theroute which Lieutenant-Colonel Aslam Khan and I

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226 THE CAUBUL RIVER SURVEY CH . x xv

night there , be close to the parade ground , and

see the show next morning . I was also summoneddown by His Excellency

,who desired to see me with

reference to his Visit to Landi Kotal and Tor- Sappar .The march pa st came Off in glorious weather . Some

of the finest troops in India went by in frontof thousands of admiring spectators

,chiefly collected

from the city and most of the Villages and hamletsof the Peshawar Valley

,whilst mingled with them

w as a large contingent from the hills of the independent tribes . When I met my Khyb eris aft ermy return from Tor-Sappar

,they said & Sahib

,we

have seen your British and Native cavalry,your

horse,field

,and elephant batteries

,your European

and native infantry , and can comprehend all suchmatters of parade and march past ; but we cannotunderstand why a large white goat w as conductedin front of a British regiment . ’ This was the white

goat of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers . I had dinedwith the regiment on St . David

’ s night,and eaten

my leek in proper style as I stood upon my chair,

and had heard from the colonel of the gallant corpsthe origin of the goat being connected with the corps

,

but just at that moment , do what I could , the storywould not come back to my mind . SO in despairI replied

,

‘ Because those men come from a hillycountry

,whose residents are fond of drinking goats ’

milk .

’ This stupid story was fully credited,and the

men bent their heads and said,‘Now we under

s tand .

’

After the parade was over I was permittedto j ourney in the Chief ’ s special train to Peshawar

,

which was reached on the evening of December 4 .

The next morning Lord Roberts , General Sir James

B rowne , Quartermaster-General in India , left Pesha

1890-91 WAR CLOUDS 227

war with me for Al i Masm,and by evening we were

in the serai at Landi Kotal,and on the following day,

escorted by two troopers of the Khyber Rifles,we

rode to Tor-Sappar . On the way Sir James Browne ,turning to His Excellency

,said

,

‘Here are the Commander-in-Chief and the Quart ermaster—General inIndia

,with the Political Officer

,Khyber

,riding in

these hills with an escort of only two troopers . Ifthis fact w as repeated in England

,or to any Officers

Of the old Panj ab school,they would not credit the

story .

’ The people came out in numbers to welcomeHis Excellency . By 6 RM . we were back at Peshawar

,and at 10 His Excellency was j ourneying to

Rawal Pindi en rou te for Lahore and Calcutta .

The war clouds had been collecting for a longtime over the Miranzai Valley and Samana

,and

now at the close of 1890 the Kohat Border was totaste the fruits of the policy which has proveddisastrous in Whichever part of the Panj ab Frontierit has been tried—Le . that of employing middl e-mento deal between the ‘ Sarkar ’

and the tribes Of theindependent hills . In vain did the late Sir JohnCoke

,at one time Deputy Commissioner of Kohat

,

Obj ect to a Bangash Khan being made Sub-Collectorof Hangu and the Miranzai Valley and given powerto deal with the hill men across the border ; hisViews were overruled

,and in 1854 he resigned his

berth as Deputy Commissioner,and preferred return

ing to take command of that fine regiment which Ibelieve he raised

,and which is Still known on the

Whole of the Panj ab Frontier as Coke ’ s Rifles . And

now, thirty- seven years afterwards,Muzaffar Khan

Of Hangu and his firebrand son,Bazgul Khan

,had

to be secured by the Panjab Government and

e 2

228 THE CAUBUL RIVER SURVEY CH . x 1V

deported to Lahore . In the Black Mountain freshcomplications were expected

, and the Khyber Riflesagain volunteered for service . The Khyber maliksand elders , knowing that I was anxious to go withthe corps—not to supersede Lieut . -Colonel AslamKhan , but to assist him in his work— sent in a

written assurance that the peace of the Pass wouldnot be disturbed if I were permitted by Governmentto go with the Khyber Rifles . This document wasforwarded by me to the Government of the Panjab ,with an application from myself, but the result wasa refusal .The three Officers of the Khyber Rifles

,Subadars

Mursil and Muhammad Ghalli, and Jemadar GholamMuhammad , who had been permitted by the Government of India to j ourney down to Calcutta , and withwhom I w as not allowed to go

,returned to Peshawar

on January 4 , 1891 . The Foreign Secretary and the

Officials and people of Calcutta had been very kind tothem . They had been taken over the mint , railwayworks at Howrah , the Bank of Bengal , the telegraph Office , Fort William ,

many shops , &C . The

Admiral sanctioned their being show n over a man

oi-w ar ; then they j ourneyed down the river in a

launch , saw the shipping and Zoological and Horticul tural Gardens and , last of all , the Viceroy , LordLansdowne , with that kindness of heart which alwaysmarks the true gentleman , very graciously accordedthem an interview at Government House , acceptedtheir humble presents of Afghan knives

,and gave to

each a large silver medallion with his own and LadyLansdowne

’ s profile engraved thereon . With tears intheir eyes

,these men related to me the kindn esses

they had received from our people at Calcutta . One

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230 THE CAUBUL RIVER SURVEY CH . x 1V

The malady which caused this fine man ’s deathcould have been cured easily if he had been takenbefore any medical Officer at Peshawar on January 3 .

Instead of adopting this procedure,his relations

put him on a cart and rattled him all the way toJamrud ; then , placing him on a cot

,he was carried

to his house at Gudar,and as no one there knew

what was the matter with him,or what was the

possible remedy,he was allowed to die .

The month of January 1891 w as extremely cold ;heavy rain had fallen during the previous week

,and

of course this meant snow in the Khyber and TirahRanges . A heavy fall came on January 15 , and at

Landi Kotal there w as three feet depth Of snow on theground . It was during this inclement weather thatthe Miranzai field force had to advance and ascendthe Samana Range , something like feet high

,to

punish the Orakzai clans for their b ad behaviour,

carried on through a long series of years , in pursuance of the policy of our own Bangash Khans . Iwarned all the Afridi maliks and the elders and

j irgas of every section as to what the origin of thisquarrel was , and with which they had nothing to do .

I told them that if, in opposition to my advice,they

went to the assistance of the Orakzai clans theywoul d first of all have to face General Sir WilliamLockhart ’s troops , and would be shot down secondly

,

that their Khyber allowances would be stopped ; and ,lastly

,that they would be debarred from British

territory . Mir Bashar, Golundaz , Mullah Idris , allthree men in the pay of the Amir of Afghanistan ,and all the Mullahs in Tirah , including Sayad AkbarAkhundzada of the Aka Khels , who was answerablefor all the troubles amongst the Afridis and Orakzais

1890-91 ACCIDENT NEAR ABU 231

during the year 1897 , did their utmost to induce theAfridis to combine and aid the Orakzai clans , but ,with the exception of about 200 men , they all

refused ; and when Sir W . Lockhart had moved intothe Mamuzai country , which is quite close to AfridiTirah , the Afridi s even then refrained from mixingthemselves up in the quarrel , and kept their men inhand and under proper control within their own

boundary. Those who believe or put any faith inthe idea that the ‘Forward ’ policy had anything todo with the Afridi rising of 1897 should inquire intothe particulars of this Miranzai campaign of 1891.

The Black Mountain expedition of 1891 was

also about to commence , and the troops who were toparticipate in that venture were concentrating in therequired localities . On February 12 some 300 menof the Khyber Rifles , under command of Lieut .Colonel Aslam Khan , marched from Jamrudinto Peshawar, and , as the weather w as exceedinglycold and inclement in the Black Mountain

,they

were ordered to remain a few days encamped at

Peshawar. Thirteen days later,on February 25 ,

the Royal Welsh‘Fusiliers and the Khyber Rifles

marched out together to share in the vicissitudes ofthe coming campaign . It was an unlucky businessfor the Khyber Rifles , in this wise . On March 21some eighty of the enemy had made a breastwork ona hill near Abu

, and held it . Lieut . -Colonel AslamKhan , with 140 of his men , was ordered to turn themout . Having in support 200 of the 5th Ghurkhas ,this was easily done , and the enemy were driven ofia second hill , where our men had to remain for thenight . On this hilltop were two very large sheds

,in

which the Black Mountaineers put up their cattle

232 THE CAUBUL RIVER SURVEY OH . x xv

when it rained or came on to snow. One of thesehuge sheds was taken up by the Ghurkhas, and theother handed over for the use of the Khyber Rifles .Night was falling and it commenced to snow

,when

Lieut . -Colonel Aslam Khan turned out all his mento collect wood and light fires to warm themselves .There then remained inside the shed Aslam Khan ,his three orderlies , his horse tied to the centreupright of the building , a guide of the country, andsome doolie bearers . Suddenly the shed came down ,killing the horse , four doolie bearers , the guide , andwounding two of the orderlies . Aslam Khan happened to be standing at the right corner of the shed,beneath a beam,

which came down slowly,dragging

him to the ground,but

,its end resting on a little

two-foot mud wall,protected his body from the

certain death which must otherwise have befallenhim . It was a miraculous escape , and he was dugout with some diffi culty. What the weight of theroof was may be judged from the fact that it tooktwelve hours ’ hard work to get the dead and woundedout . Aslam Khan was carried in a doolie to Derbend,and removed to Peshawar, and the Khyber Corpswere left without an officer to command them whoknew and understood their ways and how theyshould be managed to produce the best results in a

mountain campaign . I had been prevented fromgoing even as an Aide to Lieut .-Colonel Aslam Khan ,and my constant appeals to Obtain two or threeEuropean officers for the Khyber Rifles had beenentirely ignored ; so here were my people in an

un expected and unfortunate dilemma , through nofaul t of their own .

The headman of the Kuki Khels still continued to

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234 THE CAUBUL RIVER SURVEY ox . x xv

towards Gudar, ascended the Rhotas Hill withoutbeing seen by the garrison Of Shadi Bagiar, a hugehill intervening. Hiding himself behind a rock, hewaited there for several hours

,until he saw the dog

cart pass below him some 800 yards , then, firing threeor four Shots , he decamped, as the Shadi Bagiargarrison—alarmed by the first shot—were turning outin pursuit . The sole Obj ect Of the youth was to getthe Kuki KhelAfridis fined

,because they had obj ected

to handing over their allowances to Am in Khan .

The Khyber Afridi j irga fined the Kuki Khelsrupees for this business

, and as Malik Am in Khandeclin ed to come in to receive his share , the whole ofthe Kuki Khel Khyber allowances for a twelvemonthwere handed over to the j irga

, who were to dividetheir own portion according to the distribution listfixed in 1890, and to deal with the malik

’ s portionas it pleased them best . For the malik had beenselected by them and accepted by us . Amin Khanlingered at Jam for some time after this , and thenwent to Nathia Galli to appeal to the Comm issioner (now Sir Richard) U dny, finally returningto his home at the western limit of the Bara Valley .

The year 1892 revealed his character in its truelight .Having secured three months

’ privilege leave from

August 31, I started for Simla , arriving there onSeptember 2 . Nothing happened during the nexttwo months

,but at the end of October I w as sum

moued to Lahore , as the Lieutenant-Governor of thePanjab desired to see me , and I arrived there on themorning of November 5 . There were two subjectswhich I had been constantly urging and pleading

about . The first was the necessity of giving me a

1890-91 KHYBER RIFLES COMMAND 235

British military officer as assistant,who would learn

the duties in the Khyber on the lines carried outby me

,and be qualified to take my place when the

time came for my departure . The second referred tothe command of the Khyber Rifles . As Aslam Khanwas advancing in years , and his health was very b ad ,and , at all events , as he would have to retire in twoyears

,I strongly recommended a European captain

being made commandant on his retirement , with twoEuropean officers as assistants . I pointed out withall the ability I could that it was a dangerous ex periment placing the comm and of a corps like the KhyberRifles in the hands of a native gentleman of thatcountry

,and that , although we had been fortunate in

having secured an excellent man in Aslam ,there was

not another native ofi‘icer of the infantry or caval ry

who was fit to take his place . I further urged that itwas utterly impossible for one man to command 836men, and that if it was desirable to make the corpswhich w as of the best material in India—thoroughlyuseful and efficient , there should be , at the very lowestestimate, three European officers with it . Further,in view of the Caubul River railway being made ,I urged that two to three more companies shoul d beadded to the Khyber corps , and a couple of mountain guns be given to it . I had now the chance ofpersonally making the same appeal to Sir JamesLyall , and did so again to the utmost of my ability .

What the result was will be revealed later on .Let

the British public and the Panjab Government noteWhat has been recommended for the Khyber Riflesin 1898 Since my departure from India .

In everyrespect it is what I had been urging for a long seriesof years .

C HAPTER XV

AMIN KHAN’

S RISING

EVERY Visitor who has sanct ion from the Commandantto enter the inclosure which constitutes the Fort ofJamrud should ascend to the Keep

,where the tele

graph signallers used to have their residence,and

,

going up the last eight or nine steps,get to the

highest platform of the fortress . The View from itwill amply reward him . It is a splendid look-out

,

especially on a beautiful winter ’ s day. Let himturnhis back on the Peshawar Valley and look due westtowards the mouth of the Khyber defile in the dircetion where the sun sets . The arena immediatelybelow his gaze , bounded on the south by the ravinewhich

,as it ascends , forms the real Khyber, on the

west and north by a stony, profitless , hilly waste ,

belongs to the Kuki Khel Afridi s . They own moreland towards Lashora , Sapri , Ali Masj id

,Lala Chena ,

and in the Bara Valley and Bajgal ; but I willlimit my observations to the quarter I have noticed ,and to just three small hamlets in it . On the northlies Gudar

,the birth-place of Subadar Maj or Maula

dad Khan , with its two small forts , and its residentsnot more than eight persons capable of bearing arms .A mile south of Gudar, and about three hundred yardssouth of the Khyber Road , is Sarkai . There is nomistaking the place , one four-walled high inclosure

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2 38 AMIN KHAN’S RISING CH. x v

g ive him three more C lasps . He was hale and wellin April 1898.

Subad ar Abbas Khan , Subadar Amir Khan,S u badar Asad Khan, 2nd Panjab Infantry, and Suba d ar M aj or Mir A lam Khan

,of the 28th Panjab

Infantry. The last named, a veteran of the Chinaand Amb eyla campaigns and of every fight up to1895 , with his breast covered with medals , well and

“

fit for much further service . Rissa ldar Kadd am

Khan,4th Bengal Cavalry, who was sent to England

to attend at Her Maj esty the Queen Empress ’ sJubilee in 1897 . Jemadar Ja la l Khan, and threenative officers of the Khyber Rifles .In spite of their fine soldier-like qualities

, and thefact of their having given us such first-rate nativeo fficers , the Kuki Khels of the villages in closeproximity to Fort Jamrud , were the worst behavedof all the Afridis . The great maj ority of them weremen who had served several years in the army or inthe police

,and had been compelled to take their

d ischarge and return to their homes in pursuance ofsome blood-feud, vendetta , or heritage of revengewhich necessitated their presence in their own homes

or forts . These old soldiers , fairly well acquainted withlaw ,

tainted the rest , and as they knew how far they

c ould proceed without kicking over the traces , dealings with them generally caused more trouble thanworking with several times their number of Afridisbelonging to tribes living further away from thePeshawar District . These were the men who had

selected Amin Khan as their representative chief onthe death of Abdulla Nur in the early part of 1884 .

The first year ’ s Khyber allowances seem to havebeen fairly distributed about May 1, 1884, by Amin

1892 AMIN KHAN AND HYDER KHAN 239

Khan, before the Kuki Khels dispersed and migratedto their homes in the Bara Valley and Bajgal . Buteven then it must have dawned on Am in Khan and

the men who led him astray that if this distribution was to be carried out every year on the samescale

,the tribal allowances would go only to the tribe ,

and none of the plunder would fall to their share , aswas the case in the time of Abdulla Nur during theyears and 1883 . With this fear in View ,

Am in Khan tried in 1885 to appropriate a large portion of what really belonged to the tribe , as well ashis maliki share, and at the same time he attemptedto bul ly us into bestowing on him the special allowance of Rs . 150 a month which had been bestowedon Abdulla Nur for his lifetime only.

As Am in Khan was now fully bent on stealing asmuch belonging to the Kuki Khels as he possiblycould, they were equally determined to Checkmatehis manoeuvres , and looked round to see whom theycould place in Opposition to him . By selecting a

capable man they could rally round and support him,

whilst without such a head the party would fall topieces at once . First of all they looked to Ak barKhan , but just at that time there was no real feudbetween Akbar and Amin , and on this account Akbardid not care to endanger his life and spend his moneyin a profitless cause . The people then turned toHyder, an elder brother of Amin Khan ’ s

, and for atime Hyder remained firm and gave considerabletrouble to his younger brother . So much so thatone evening in the month of December 1886

,when

Lord Rosebery was going from Fort Jamrud upthe Khyber Road, with Lieut .-Colonel Aslam Khan

,

Mr. Munro Ferguson , and myself, accompanied by

240 AM IN KHAN’S RISING CH. x v

Amin Khan and a small escort of cavalry, we cameupon Hyder Khan marching down the road withabout twenty to thirty of his friends armed withloaded rifles . Aslam Khan advanced to HyderKhan

,and , addressing him , explained who our party

consisted of,where we were going to

,and when we

intended returning . In this way we parted, HyderKhan going on to Jam with his large escort , whilstwe rode on in the direction of Ali Masj id . I did notmyself believe that Hyder Khan in our presencewould take the law into his own hands and murder

his brother on the Khyber Road fort having usurpedhis post , which by right he felt bdionged to himself as the eldest son of Abdulla Nur . But Am inKhan

,who was thoroughly alarmed and frightened

at this rencontre, w as not going to risk his life a

second time,or to tempt Providence afresh ; so

when our cavalcade were about to retrace their stepstowards Fort Jamrud, he asked permission to departfor Lala Chena , the Village quite close to Al i Masj id,where he had many friends amongst the FaridKhel Kuki Khels , and in whose company he felthimself safe . Hyder Khan , who w as greatly wantingin capacity and was looked upon as half-witted, soontired of opposing his younger and more ambitiousbrother

,and was further bought OH with a pension

sufficient to feed himself and family, so he retiredfrom the contest . Amin Khan ’ s fortunes would now

have brightened a little had he not in a moment offolly cruelly and treacherously murdered Candahari,brother of RissaldarKaddam Khan , of the 4thBengal

Cavalry , and cousin to Akbar Khan , of Jam . AminKhan and Akbar Khan were both relations belongingto the same section Of the Sher Khan Khels , and Whilst

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242 AMIN KHAN’S RISING on . x v

men had ventured into his abode to murder him ,and

that he had saved his own life by putting them outof the way. Whatever m ay have been the cause ofthis cruel act , the result in the end was fatal to Amir ,who was a firm and devoted ally of Amin Khan ’ s .In the village of Kaddam

,which is situated about a

m ile or less further up the ravine and on the sameleft bank

,the faction opposed to Amin Khan had

gained the upper hand and were by far the strongerparty in that locality . When the real fight betweenAmin and Akbar commenced

,the latter was sup

ported by Sarkai and Khayasta Khan’ s fort

,whilst

Amin Khan could only rely on Amir,whose in

closure w as nearly nine hundred yards away and

garrisoned by a weak party of eight persons . Whatmade Amir ’ s lot so much harder w as that from M ay

to December every year Amin Khan used to retire tothe Bara Valley, and leave him and his small gangto fight the whole coalition Opposed to them . Knowing Subadar Amir ’ s life w as never safe , I had him

transferred to the Kohat Border Police , and accepteda pensioned Subadar, Muhammad Zaman , inhis place .

In the meanwhile the enemy commanded by theirfire the north and west of his fort , and by erecting abreastwork on the right bank of the ravine facing the

fort they secured control of the eastern quarter also .

And SO when Amir Khan and Subadar Maj or Zaman

Khan went on leave to their homes , they could onlyd o the j ourney under cover of the darkness of the

n ight , and during the rest Of their stay they werec lose prisoners inside their own inclosure . I Oftenwent to see this fine Old man , Subadar Maj or ZamanKhan , at his home , and he complained bitterly of

the‘ cursed misfortune ’ that had launched him

1892 MURDER OF AMIR KHAN 243

into the miserable feud,and made him a captive in

his own home for months whenever he returned to iton leave . He was suffering for Subadar Am ir ’ s folly

,

but the time was fast approaching when punishmentw as to fall on Amir himself.I have already explained the woun ding of

Khayasta Khan in a former chapter,and now I will

relate how Amir came to his end . Just before the lossof his leg , Khayasta Khan rose up early one morning ,and

,field -

glass in hand, carefully scanned his enemy’ s

double-towered inclosure . It w as barely light,and

yet he could see a figure under the mulberry tree,

facing the only entrance the inclosure had,washing

his hands,a little outside the cover of the tower wall .

He looked very carefully, and in the increasing lighthe discovered the figure to be that of his arch-enemyAm ir Khan . Putting down the field-glass , and takingup his Martini-Henry , he took aim and fired . Thebullet j ust touched Amir ’ s beard, who , throwing himself back under cover, had a narrow escape that time .Instead of taking warning, Subadar Am ir gave up hisappointment in the Kohat police and went to live inhis own fort . As three sides of it were under controlof the fire of the enemy ’ s rifles , he had a deep coveredway dug out to the south of his building , with a

square piece of level ground at the end, where he usedto go and say his prayers without being seen or firedat from the three quarters held by the enemy. Butin his caution he committed one error . I wental ong this covered way after his death, and saw thata man standing straight up was perfectly safe ; butonce you got to the square bit of ground where Am irsat and said his prayers , no wall or cover had beenraised

,and a person was fully exposed to the fire of

R 2

244 AMlN KHAN’S RISING cxx . x v

anyone who could get a shot at him from 50 to 300yards on the southern side of the inclosure . Thedifiiculty was to get to within 50 to 300yards ofAm irwithout being seen and discovered by the watchmenon the two towers of the building . However

,spies

possibly ladies of Amir ’ s household,who were related

to Khayasta Khan and Asad Khan ’ s families—musthave revealed

’

the condition of affairs , and the wantof protection of Am ir ’s prayer house . One night inthe hot weather, two smart men of Khayasta Khan

’ sside started at 10 PM

,and took up their position 150

to 200 yards to the south Of the square spot,and con

ceal ed themselves . There was hardly any cover, savea stone here or there , and the summer sun risingwould reveal to the watchmen any movement or

obj ect of suspicion in that quarter . The two musthave kept very close on that fearful hot summer’ sday, exposed to the fierce rays of a tropical sun

,

unable to move or stir, lest their situation should beexposed to the enemy ’ s riflemen , and their own watchrewarded by a volley which at such close quarterswould be certain death to them . Mid-day, twoo ’clock

,five PM ,

no sign of Amir Khan,but just as

the sun was dipping down behind the Khyber Hillstheir patient watch of twenty hours w as rewarded ,for he came through the covered way and stood onhis prayer ground, looking at the brown , burnt,parched-up hills . The two rifles rang out at thesame moment , and Subadar Amir fell dead .

Amin Khan ’ s action from 1884 to 1891 has alreadybeen recorded in these pages . He threatened , as Ihave already mentioned , to fire on the Lieut . -Governor of the Panj ab in 1885 if he ventured to j ourneyup the Khyber

,unless Abdulla Nur ’s special pension

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246 AMIN KHAN’S RISING CH . x v

There were numbers of others in the various sectionsof the Afridi and Orakzai clans but the above threewere called by the Afridis m auzoons

,

’ men who werepermitted to preach and give advice at the greatgatherings held at the mosque of Bagh every Friday .

Sayad Ak bar w as young in years,avaricious , and

energetic,but his whole energy was spent in trying

to force the Sipahs to hand over to his tribe , the AkaKhels

,a share of their Khyber allowance . He was

also bribed by Malik Sher Muhammad Sipah to forcethe Sipahs to let him distribute their allowances—two measures that I opposed might andmain . His

ways did not please the Afridis . The Malikdin KhelMullah w as an Old , God- fearing m an

,full of good

advice to others , and highly loved and respected .

The Kambar Khel Mullah w as of lesser note,but he

also w as not Vicious . Irrespective Of the real Mullahs ,there were in every mosque throughout Afridi and

Orakzai-land during the summer season three or fourta libe (religious students) , vagrant rascals who lived oncharity

,who never did an honest day ’s work

,and who

were at the bottom of every mischief that requiredhatching or circulating . These men used to collectat Bagh in hundreds every week to say their Friday

’ sprayers . Presuming that the Mullahs wished to securean Afridi rising against the British Government , thisw as how the plan w as arranged and carried out .A notice was circulated , inviting all the Afridi clansto attend at Bagh on a certain Friday to say theirprayers . On the day fixed, j irgas from all the sections of the Afridis

,possibly to the number of three to

four thousand men , would attend , and , afterthe usualprayers had been said , the business which had broughtthem together would be entered into . Now

,amongst

1892 INTRIGUE AND TROUBLE 247

Afridis and Pathan tribes a man’ s deadl iest enemies

are those cousins outside his own family who are

heirs to his landed property . The Mullahs havingdiscussed the subj ect

,would ask if all were agreed to

adopt an aggressive policy against the British Government . If a strong party was Opposed to fighting , asw as the case during the Miranzai expeditions , thesubj ect was dropped at once ; but if only one individual obj ected , the Mullahs would call him a

‘wahabi,

’

and invite his cousins and the ta libs to burndown his house . He w as thus forced to acquiesce

,

and the same procedure was adopted towards all

until complete unanimity prevailed . From 1884 to1892 Amin Khan had done his best to get the Mullahsto secure an Afridi rising

,but so far all his exertions

had ended in failure . But in 1889 his brother,

Zaman Khan ,took service with Sipah Salar Gholam

Hyder Khan,the Amir ’ s Commander-ih -Chief in the

Jelallab ad District , and a fresh item of disturbancewas added to the firebrands already at work amongstthe Kuki Khels .

M ay 1,1892 , arrived , and in accordance with

orders received half the maliki allowance was givento Amin Khan and half to Akbar Khan

, and thetribal distribution arranged for in 1890 w as carriedout . Everything w as going on extremely well when

,

on M ay 6 , Zaman Khan , brother of Am in , who hadreceived an advance Of Rs . from the SipahSalar and Obtained leave of absence from Asmar inBajawar, reached Peshawar with 100 men . Hispresence produced a lot of intrigue and trouble

,but

the j irgas insisted on seeing their orders carried out,

and the Kuki Khels were dismissed to their homes.

There was after this one secret meeting at the house

248 AMIN KHAN’S RISING CH. x v

Of Khwas Khan in the City of Peshawar,at which

were present the following maliks & Khwas Khan,Zakha Khel

,Feroz Khan

,Malikdin Khel

,Sher

Muhammad , Sipah , and Amin Khan,Kuki Khel .

What passed at the interview no one would reveal,

but when these four men came out, and Am in Khan

went away , Khwas Khan was heard to say &‘We have

given him a long pole to cross a deep stream,and he

will either pass over in safety or drown in theventure .

’

On M ay 24 Lieut . -Colonel Aslam Khanand I went up to Landi Kotal , where we found Mr .Taylor

,C .E .

,hard at work over the Tangi water

supply . By this time Am in Khan and the BajgalKuki Khels had reached their homes . Amin Khanat once set to work again to win the Mullahs over tohis cause

,and this time he spent his cash freely . His

first venture w as to waylay my dak carried by twomen Of the Khyber Rifles . The a ttempt w as madeat 10 P .M . near Fort Maud by some fifteen of his followers . They secured the snider of one of the escort ,but the other m an

,firing his piece into the thick of

the gang,helped his comrade to escape with him

towards Fort Maud,saving his own rifle and the mail

b ag , which w as sent up in the morning to LandiKotal with a report of what had occurred . Anothersmall raiding party was sent by Amin Khan downthe Bara Valley towards the Aka Khel maira

, but bythis time news came to me as to what w as going onin Tirah , and every day I w as kept fully informed

as to Amin Khan’ s action . The dak was then

brought up by day in place of at night ; the garrisons of Shadi Bagiar, Fort Maud , and Ali Masj idwere increased , and water vessels provided for them .

The Mullah of the Malikdin Khels was written to

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250 AMIN KHAN’S RISING ox . x v

ing the Peshawar District,who was then at Cherat .

That day two companies of the 14th Sikhs were sentto Jamrud , and the next day two field guns under anescort of two companies of the Royal Scots Fusiliersarrived late at night . On July 4

,which was a

Monday,some 200 men of the Mullagoris , summoned

by me,came to my aid . At mid-day the Kuki Khel

j irga belonging to the villages round about FortJamrud w as collected, and posts assigned to them

,

and they were sent Off to secure and hold them .

Those told Off for Shadi Bagiar,Jehangira

,and

Fort Maud reached their posts before the attackw as developed . Close upon sunset men were seen inlarge numbers carrying flags 011 the high hilltop tothe left of the Khyber Road waving their Swords ,whilst the rattle Of musketry told that the threeposts held by the Khyber Rifles and Kuki Khelallies were being attacked . Soon a reddish glarearose in the d irection of the Khyber , which increasedin intensity as the night grew darker

,there being no

moon . The fire,which was a large one

,kept on till

the early hours of the morning . Lying down on a

cot in the Open ground , we tried to secure some rest ,as our march w as to commence at 4 A .M . and I waswearied out with eighteen hours ’ anxiety and work .

July 5 w as a Tuesday and the Muhammadan festivalof the Bakra-Idh,

’ the holiest in their calendar,and

besides it w as our caravan day, and Amin Khan hadvowed that on this day he would close the KhyberRoad .

As I was about to get up at 4 A .M . Rissaldar

Kaddam Khan came and Whispered in my ear thathe had heard casually that Amin Khan had fled butthe news was too good to be relied upon

, SO we

1892 AMIN KHAN’S RETREAT 251

advanced with the Khyber Rifles in skirmishingorder

,with our small force ready for any contingency .

Fortunately the news brought down to KaddamKhan was correct . We found Amin Khan and hisgathering had really gone . When w e got to the spotwhere the pathway turns on the left to Fort Maudwe saw the mi schief which had been caused by theattack . Two large outhouses to the south of thefort had been burnt and entirely destroyed . Withinthree to four yards of the walls we found bundlesof grass scattered here and there

,which showed

beyond any doubt what the fate of the fort wouldhave been had the Mullah la shkar got in . If the KukiKhel and other Afridis had attacked on the afternoon oi the 3rd , or on the morning of the 4th of July ,nothing could have saved the three posts Of ShadiBagiar

,Jehangira , and Fort Maud . Their capture

and conflagration would have created so great a moralimpression that there would have been a certainty ofAl i Masj id and Landi Kotal then suffering the fatethat befell them afterwards in 1897 . For it must beremembered that the bitterness regarding the occu

patiou of the Samana , the increase of the salt tax ,

the influence of Am in Khan ’ s money,the action of

the three maliks in assisting him , and our utter unpreparedness were factors of far greater importancein 1892 than they were five years later . FortunatelyAm in Khan attacked at sunset , and in the darkness .

he was repulsed . He and his brother, Zaman Khan ,were watching the fight from a mound just nearJehangira . Just after the repulse news reached himthat Malik Yar Muhammad Khan

,of Chora , had

secured all Amin Khan ’ s Hindus,with the mules

bringing down supplies for his lashkar. He also

2 52 AMIN KHAN’S RISING CH . x v

learnt that we were advancing in the morning .

These three events combined induced him and hisgathering to make a retrograde m ovement to Tirah

,

and they never stopped once the retreat commenceduntil they reached their homes .Passing the caravan on to Al i Ma sj id

,we turned

back to Fort Jamrud,as all danger was past , and

our Zakha Khel allies were holding the ridge by AliMasj id , whilst the Khyber Rifles occupied the fort .It may be called a Providential escape . At the sametime , I firmly believe that the Afridi la shkar

,as in

1879, only wanted a good excuse to get back to their

c ountry,and had no desire or wish to fight the

British Government .By this time the Commissioner had arrived at

Peshawar from his summer home at Nathia Galli,

and the General and his A .A .G . had hurried downfrom Cherat ; at the conference held at the former ’ shouse Sir Henry Collett

,Maj or Davies

,and I

strongly advocated assisting the Khyber Rifles withregular troops if the posts in the Khyber were everattacked again .

Am in Khan was deprived of the half malikiwhich had remained to him

,and

,having spent all his

accumulated wealth in this one plunge,he lost his

prestige with his defeat and was unable to do anyfurther mischief . But this result might have beensecured eight years before if the Panjab authoritieshad only understood that an Afridi malik was nota Baluch Tumandar.

On July 8 Lieut . -Colonel Aslam Khan and I returned to Landi Kotal . The European troops and

guns were then withdrawn to Peshawar and the Sikhsa week later . By that time all danger was over

,and

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2 54 AMIN KHAN’

S RISING CH. x v

but they declined to hand them over to anyoneexcept myself . On August 31 twenty-two Sipahs ,a rmed excellently, appeared at Landi Kotal and

delivered over the two rifles . About 1 A.H . on themorning of September 1 some four or five shots werefired at the gate of the serai where I slept . At dawnI learnt that twenty-five Kuki Khels , headed byAm in Khan , had given chase to the Sipahs , and

,

finding them too strong to tackle,had revenged

themselves by firing at the iron-bound doors of theserai . On their flight to Landi Khana they had

exchanged shots in the darkn ess with the garrisonof Fort Tytler .There was no further anx iety about Am in Khan

,

because at the close of July all the Khyber maliksand j irgas had sworn to support us against Am inKhan and every Mullah in Tirah . The word ofthe j irga was far more reliable than the oaths of thethree deceiving maliks who had led the Kuki KhelAm in Khan to his destruction . We remained at

Landi Kotal till October 28, and during the monthssubsequent to July 4 , when the Afridis attacked thethree Khyber posts , the attitude of the peopletowards us became more friendly every day. Anything we wanted , either on behalf of Government orof ourselves

,was cheerfully granted . Even English

married officers came up and took their wives to seeTor—Sappar, and enj oyed the rides over the plateau .

His Excellency the .Commander-ih -Chief hadexpressed a wish for Mr. Spenser Wilkinson to beallowed to see as much of the Khyber as he caredto inspect , and in carrying out Lord Rob erts

’

s w ishMr . Wilkinson j ourneyed with me to Landi Kotal onDecember 5 , and we had the pleasure of the society

1892 POISONOUS FEVER AT PESHAWAR 255

also of Mr . Joseph Walton,now M P . for Barnsley

Division, W .R. Yorks

,who had arrived at Peshawar

w ith the intention of seeing the frontier . Afterinspecting everything

,especially the Jelallab ad Valley

,

from Pisgah , which reveals fully the wonderful excellence of the Loargi position , we returned to Peshawar .The Peshawar District had been more than usually

unhealthy that season , and was now threatened witha description Of poisonous fever which had beendeadly some twenty years before . It commenced torain on July 29, 1892 , and poured incessantly forsixteen to seventeen days ; this turned the valley intoa swamp , and the heat Of the sun falling on thiscreated a miasma which proved fatal to many Europeans as well as to natives Of the district . Thisextraordinary unhealthiness extended to the skirts ofthe surrounding mountains , and was fatal even toseveral residents of Landi Kotal , which I regard as

one of the healthiest places I have ever lived at,and

this after many years ’ experience Of the locality .

Lord and Lady Robert s and family came up toPeshawar, and Lord Roberts , accompanied by hisson the Hon . Frederick Roberts and by his eldestdaughter, paid his farewell vi sit to Ali Masj id . Hehad for eight years taken the greatest interest in theKhyber Pass , and had always given his strongestsupport to any measure that benefited our hold onthe Khyber Range, and had aided any measure likelyto produce a good understanding with its residents .The name of Lord Robert s will always be cherishedand loved by the Native army and by the peoples ofIndia .

The Kuki Khels gave no further trouble . Settlingtheir affairs and realising all the fines due on account

256 AMIN KHAN’S RISING CH . x v

of Amin Khan ’ s misdeeds,I went on two years ’ leave

from M ay 11, 1893 . The representations that I hadmade for years to be allowed a military Officer asa ssistant , who would learn the work in the Khyberand carry on the duties on the same grounds that Ihad been working on , and who would take my placeon my departure , had not been successful . Sir JamesLyall in November, and again in December 1891,had faithfully promised me that he would supportmy application for a military assistant

,but that the

question of appointing a captain and two lieutenantsto the Khyber Rifles woul d be deferred until suchtime as Lieutenant-Colonel Aslam Khan ‘meant toretire on pension . The documents went to England ,and the appointment of my assistant was approvedof by the Secretary of State for India and the file

was sent back to India some time in 1892 . But itw as not till April 15 , 1893 , that Captain C . Minchinj oined the Khyber staff at Peshawar. Many valuableyears had been wasted in securing this appointment

,

but as Captain Minchin was new to the work,he

was not put in political charge Of the Khyber when Itook my departure .

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CHAPTER XVI

ON LEAVE IN IND IA

1893—1894

BEFORE giving over my Khyber charge,I wrote a

courteous letter to the Private Secretary of the Lieutenant-Governor of the Panjab

,explaining the pro

cedure that had been adopted towards me,which had

entailed great loss in pay to one not over blessedwith the world ’ s riches

,and I asked him to bring

my letter to the notice of Sir Dennis Fitzpatrick . Iretained a copy Of this document

,and have it now

,

but no reply w as ever sent or vouchsafed to me . A

furlough income of Rs . 700 a month , or £540 a year,

after thirty-two years ’ service did not permit Of

my going with my family to Europe,as I wanted

to do,so we made up our minds to spend the

summer months at Murree and return for the Winterto Peshawar, where , amongst Old scenes and Old

friends,the quiet and rest which I was in search of

might be secured . On the evening of our departurethe railway station swarmed with Afridis who hadcome to bid me farewell . It w as hard partingwith people with whom I had been in daily touchfor eleven years ; still , there was the consolationthat in five months w e should be back in Peshawar, and that the twenty-two weeks would quicklypass away, when these old acquaintances and friendswould be seen again . With this earnest hope and

S

258 ON LEAVE IN INDIA ox . x vx

a kind good—bye to our own people,and a

‘KhodaHafiz ’

and ‘ Salam ’ to the dwellers in the valleyand on the independent hills

,our train steamed out &

of the Peshawar station .

Murree I am devotedly attached to and fond of .It lies thirty-eight miles from Rawal Pindi

,and

can be reached in five to six hours by Mr . D anjeb oy’

s

excellent tonga service . Starting from Peshawar bythe evening train , I have dismounted from the tongaearly next morning on the road to Kashmir, whichpassed beneath my garden . To Mr . D anjeb oy I am

indebted for many acts of courtesy during ouracquaintanceship of twenty-three years . Havingseen Murree

,Dalhousie

,Simla

,Mussoorie

,L andour,

the palm for beauty of scenery must , in my humbleOpinion , be given to the first . With your headquarters at the rooms near the tonga offices , immediately below the club , you could arrange for toursinto Kashmir

,or to the Gullies en rou te to Abb otab ad

,

or to Thandiani and nothing could be more enj oyable Or glorious than those trips through the beautifulGullies before and after the rainy season . HouseOwners who had to make their incomes by lettingtheir houses

,and merchants who had to secure their

gains by sale of goods , bemoaned the day when thePanjab Government removed its summer seat toSimla and Mr . D anjeb oy opened out his tonga servicetowards Kashmir . Former visitors to Murree werethen drawn away to Simla and Srinagar ; but inmy Opinion this w as a gain to Murree by preventing it from being overcrowded . One drawbackto Murree

,however , w as its red clay soil

,into

which you sank when the heavy rains were on,

but which when dry became as hard as iron . The

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260 ON LEAVE IN INDIA ox . x vx

Of the Panj ab Government,that I was to give up a

year of my furlough and return to my Khyber chargeon M ay 11 1894 . It w as the last season of LordLansdowne s Viceroyalty , and there was universalsorrow and regret at the prospect of his and LadyLansdowne ’ s approaching departure from India inthe coming spring . Calcutta would still have themfor the winter season

,but it was a far cry to Calcutta

from Peshawar .I w as back at Murree by 6 A.M . on Wednesday

,

November 1 . The j ourney by tonga from RawalPindi w as very cold , especially as one w as clothedin garments suitable for Kalka

,Lahore

,Rawal

Pindi,and not for a hill station feet high ;

besides,the wind blowing down the Murree-Rawal

Pindi road about 3 A.M . on a November morning toldseverely as the tonga made its w ay rapidly up hill .A few days to pack up and despatch boxes to RawalPindi made us ready for our return to the PeshawarValley . We experienced an exceedingly severe shockof earthquake , which came on about on themorning of Sunday

,November 5

,and the marvel was

that no damage w as caused to the stone-built wallsof the house or to any of the houses in the station .

The weather in the sunshine was delightful,but

exceedingly cold in Kuldanna Cottage,which

,facing

the Kashmir Hills , has a northern aspect,and is in

no way protected from the wind which blows inthe winter season from the snow-covered mountains .We found that no amount Of wood fires would warmthe rooms , SO it was with considerable satisfactionthat we stepped into our tonga on November l oth,

and reached Peshawar at A.M . on the 12th,having

made one day’ s halt at Rawal Pindi to permit our

1893-94 GOVERNMENT STORES BURNT 261

servants and heavy luggage to come up with us andj ourney in our train westwards . The valley had inno Wise changed since our departure

,but the health

of the troops was much better than it had beentwelve months before

,there having been little fever

in 1893 .

Owing to some cause or other,the valuable

stores collected at the mobilisation gO-downs Of the1st Army Corps , located to the east of the citystation

,were burnt down a few days before my return

,

involving a loss to Government of something likeIt was never discovered how the fire origi

h ated,whether it was due to accident or w as the

handiwork of some person or persons who had

something to gain by the destruction of these commodities .

The Durand mission arrived at Peshawar fromCaubul on November 22 . Sir Mortimer and Surgeon-Lieut . -Colonel Fenn left the same day, and therest of the party moved away on the 23rd , exceptCaptain Manners -Smith , who remained behind tosquare up accounts . The mission Offi cers were fullOf the kind way in which they had been treated bythe Amir

,Abdur Rahman , and one of them who

had seen him in 1880, and again in 1884,and for

the third time in 1893,assured me that the Amir

w as now a changed man to what he was somethirteen years before. That this mission had madeAbdur Rahman Khan happy and cleared away fromhis mind all suspicions was good news

, and we all

hoped that it might turn out to be true in the end,

although there were one or two disbelievers in Indiawho were not quite so sanguine .

Imm ediately after my return to Peshawar all my

262 ON LEAVE IN INDIA CH . x vx

Khyber friends came daily to see me,but some of

them were under the impression that I was boundto interfere in certain matters which had beencarried out during my absence . To these complaints I never attended

,assuring them that

whatever had been done by the officer acting forme I could not possibly interfere with , whether itcoincided with my own views or not .During my brief absence several changes had taken

place . Malik Amin Khan , whose hostility to theBritish Government

,commencing with the spring of

1884,culminated in the expedition from Tirah to close

the Khyber in 1892 , which ended in his ruin and

the deprivation of his maliki , had been pardoned , andwas to get back the half chieftainship which he hadbeen in possession of at the end of M ay 1892 . I waswarned not to interfere with this resolution in any

way. Amin Khan was to be introduced to me beforeI retook charge on M ay 11

,1894 . The procedure

w as strange , and in no way likely to benefit Government still

,as it had been decided to carry out this

step without asking or consulting me , there was

nothing to do but to Obey orders . The trouble wouldin the immediate present come on my shoulders , butin the future it would have to be carried by the P an

jab Government and those whohad given this advice .

On February 22 , 1894 , MalikAkbar Khan , Kuki Khel ,was shot as he w as saying his prayers at his mosqueinside the inclosure of his house . The miscreantwho committed this act was a near relation

,one of

the four sons of a man whose house adj oined AkbarKhan ’ s

,and whose family had been aided and assisted

by him with arms and money against a powerfulrival . Akbar Khan , I regret to say, died from the

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264 ON LEAVE IN INDIA ox . x vx

the spot ploughed up . Only two of the familyJemadar Jelal Khan and his brother Chenarescaped , and they had to go to the other side of thevillage and claim shelter from the faction who hadbeen inimical to their father Ahmad Shah duringhis life

,and to the whole family after his death.

On April 9, 1894 ,Mr . and Mrs . Clements and son ,Mr . and Mrs . Martin

,two lady doctors

,and party

went to Jamrud,intending to j ourney westwards

towards the capital of Afghanistan . This was thefirst time since the days of Lady M acnaghten ,

LadySale

,and the dark period of 1841—42 that any

English ladies had ventured to attempt thisj ourney .

I went to Simla to spend the last month of myyear ’ s leave , and took up my family with me , leavingPeshawar on April 13 , and arriving at Simla twodays later . I had a meeting with Sir M . Durand onthe 16th. During my stay at Simla I w as presentedto the new Viceroy , the Earl of Elgin . My firstappearance at a levee in India was at GovernmentHouse

,Calcutta

,in November 1862 , when his father

w as Viceroy and Governor-General . There was noofficial mention made of any Viceregal Visit to thefrontier during the approaching Winter season

,

although Lord Elgin said that there was everyprospect—nay, almost certainty

—ofhis paying a visitto D harmsala , where his father lies buried . Fromwhat I w as told by his staff, it seemed that a

frontier tour had been discussed at the ViceregalLodge

,although nothing had been definitely resolved

upon . I had a couple of meetings with,and made

the acquaintance of, Mr . Babington Smith , PrivateSecretary to the Governor-General .

1893-94 Loss OF PAY 265

There was some uncertainty about the date onwhich the Panj ab Government desired me to resumemy appointment in the Khyber . However, nothingcame in the way of altering my former plans , and so ,leaving Simla on the morning of May 7 , I was ableto reach Peshawar on the 9th, and begin work onthe forenoon of the 11th

,having been absent exactly

one year on leave in India . During my short stayat Simla in September and October 1893, I had seenMr . Fanshawe

,Secretary to the Panjab Government ,

and, when broaching the subj ect of my being per

mitted to give up a year of my leave and return toduty

,I asked him to represent to Sir D . Fitzpatrick

that I was losing a very great deal in pay by remaining on in the Khyber, and if my management Of

the Pass had been a successful one , could he not b einduced to recommend an increment ? The Secretary replied that he would bring the matter to thenotice of the Lieut .-Governor, who would consultthe Commissioner

,Mr. U dny, on the subj ect . This

decision soon came . I was told that my request hadbeen negatived .

Amin Khan, Kuki Khel, who had come intoPeshawar, was introduced to me by Mr . C . G . Has

tings,C .I .E . (who had been Officiating for me during

the previous twelve months) , at his house , and suchportion of the Government orders that were necessarythat he should know were explained to him byMr . Hastings . He was particularly warned not to gonear Jam in coming to or going away from Peshawar .Sardar Hab ibulla Khan—who was the eldest son

of the Amir, and had been spending February, March,

and April in the Jelallab ad District—now resolved toreturn to Caubul

,as his presence was required there

266 ON LEAVE IN INDIA CH .

'

x VI

in carrying out some urgent social State religiousceremonies ; and the Sipah Salar

,who had been

to see His Highness on certain Official matters,pos

sib ly the coming Mohmand Bajawar demarcation ,retraced his steps towards his command . The monthof M ay passed , and

, beyond hearing rumours ofwhat was going on in Eastern Afghanistan—whichrumours were carried down by men belonging to theb i-weekly caravans

,or by informers sent by us to

glean information—nothing was known for certain asto the feeling amongst the Bajawaris and Mohmands

regarding the new demarcation . On our side the Commissioner of Peshawar

,Mr . (now Sir Richard) U dny,

who had been appointed as head of this MohmandBajaw ar Boundary Commission , had Signed and

circulated a proclamation dated the 7th of theMuhammadan month of Zu ’ l-hij jah

,1311

June 12,1894 , a translation of which is herewith given

P roclama tion .

From M r. R . U dny, Commissioner and Superintendent,Peshaw ar Division .

To all Bajaw ari, M ohmand , and other trib es inhab itingthe country tow ard s the Indian Empire , from the Caubul

River to the southern limit of Chitral , from the b oundaryline now agreed upon b etween the British Government andthe Am ir of Afghanistan .

(1) Whereas certain questions w ere raised regarding theb oundary b etw een Afghanistan and India , and as H .H . the

Am ir , as w ell as the Indian Government , desired to havethese question s disposed of in an am icab le and friendlymanner , so that for the future there may not b e a differenceof opinion and thought regarding the above matter b etweenthese two kingdom s , who have treaties and engagements

b etw een themselves . The Government of Great Britain,

with the consent of H .H . the Amir of Afghanistan, during

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268 ON LEAVE IN INDIA CH . x vx

up to Kuner , and at a distance of a few English milesfrom the b ank Of the Kuner River tow ard s Bajawar. From

Kun er the b ounda ry line goes southw ards , and,taking a

b end , ascend s the hills close to Satala Sar, which hills dividethe w atershed b etw een the Kuner and Panj -kora Rivers .

From Satala Sar the b oundary line passes over the crest ofthe hill, on one side Of wh1ch the w aters flow ing from the

D ag H ills fall into the Panj-kora River, whilst the w aterson the other side , passing through the Satala Valley, fallinto the Caubul River . An d in the centre of this hill lies theKotal of Satala . The ex treme end of the b oundary touchesthe Caub ul River in the Vicinity of P olosi.

(6) From a review of the ab ove details you w ill understand that ih add ition to the countries w atered by the KunerRiver which lie tow ard s the limits of the Indian Dominions ,H .H . the Am ir has agreed not to interfere in all that countrythe eastern w aters of wh1ch fall into the Panj-kora River ;nor to interfere or stretch his hand in that quarter of theM ohm and country the w aters of which fall into the CaubulRiver b elow P olosi.

(7) On this account your future concerns and relationship w ill lie solely w ith the Briti sh Government and no one

else , and I have a hope that by degrees there will b e the

same b onds of friend ship b etw een you on the one part , andmyself and the frontier officers of the British Governmenton the other part , which has e x isted b etw een the saidofficers and other trib es who reside outside the lim its of theb oundaries of the Peshaw ar D istrIct .

(8) The last request Is that you should firmly b elieve ,and on this point I w ill give you every assurance and satisfaction ,

that the Governm ent oi India has no intention of

going b eyond these limits , which form the present b oundariesof the Indian Empire , and that it has no desire to mix itselfIn any w ay w ith the affairs of your country. Written on

the 7th of Zu’

l-hij jah 1311 June 12 ,

This proclamation , written in the Persian languageand character and Signed R . U dny, w as distributedacross the British border amongst the tribes concerned ,

1893-94 AMIR OFFENDED 269

and immediately the fact became known , the SipahSalar issued orders and sent messengers to have allthe copies secured and brought to him ,

and they wereeither destroyed or sent on to the Amir at Caubul .This information was conveyed from the Mohmandcountry

,and it was hinted that the Amir and the

Sipah Salar were very much ofiended at such a

document having been circulated amongst the Amir’ speople at a time when a British mission was going asa guest of His Highness into his dominions , and w asto be escorted by his troops and Commander-ih—Chiefover the country to be mutually demarcated . But ,like all rumours coming from Afghanistan , no onehad the means of proving this one to be altogethercorrect . Why should the Amir and his Com

mander-in-Chief have revealed such thoughts, if

they ever entertained them , to the common public ofAfghanistan

At the commencement of July 1894 HE . LordElgin ’ s frontier tour was announced to the public .The Viceroy was to visit Peshawar in the month ofNovember

,go up the Khyber Pass , then proceed by

rail to Quetta , and , returning to Lahore , hold a

darbar there but later on this tour was altered .

Two members of the Mohmand-Bajawar Boundary Commission , Mr . U dny and Surgeon-CaptainMacnabb , arrived at Peshawar on August 12 and

went on to have an interview with the Sipah SalarGholam Hyder Khan , at Jelallab ad , and on thismeeting depended the future fate of the BoundaryCommission .

Very little occurred during the next three monthsthat requires particular mention . My assistant

,

Captain Minchin , who had j oined the Khyber staff

270 ON LEAVE IN INDIA cu . x vx

on April 15 , 1893, was not satisfied with his positionand status under the Panjab Government

,and had

made up his mind to return to his former appoin tmentin the Political Department under the Governmentof India . I was sorry at this

,but not surprised .

Sorry, because I felt sure that once he left me (and Ihad begun to like him and the Willing way he undertook any duty or work that w as entrusted to him) itwould take months , perhaps years , to get a successorto him sent to me . I might think myself luckyif any assistant like Captain Minchin were sent toreplace him , but it was just possible that the Government at Lahore would alter this arrangement

,which

had been supported by one Lieut .-Governor,Sir

James Lyall , and had received the sanction of theSecretary of State for India in Council . It mademe j ealous to look at the list Of military ofliders

lent by the Government of India to the Gilgit andChitral Agencies , some twenty or more figuring inthe Quarterly Panjab Civil List supplied from theAccountant-General

’ s Offi ce at Lahore , and to find

such diffi culty in my getting even one man as a

help to the Khyber staff. I was not surprised at

Captain Minchin forsaking the Khyber and thePanjab Government , for his prospects under theGovernment Of India were far better and more roseate .

On November 9, 1894 , Mr . Curzon , now LordCurzon of Kedle ston , Viceroy and Governor-GeneralOf India , arrived at Peshawar, and I had the pleasureOf meeting him the next day. He was then travelling for pleasure , a trip which had for its Obj ect a

j ourney on horseback from Peshawar to Caubul,

where he was to be the guest of Am ir Abdur Rahman Khan ; after that he might undertake a ride to

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2 72 ON LEAVE IN INDIA CH . x vx

this trip singly without any European companion .

After bidding our illustrious traveller good-bye ,C olonel the Hon . M . Curzon and I returned toPeshawar . The Zakha Khel children in the Khybernow regularly turned out to greet us whenever wej ourneyed up and down the Pass .His Excellency Lord Elgin reached Peshawar

on the morning of November 19,and two days

later,with the Commander-in-Chief

,the Lieutenant

Governor of the Panjab,and a large and brilliant

following,proceeded up the Khyber Road as far as

Ali Masj id and had lunch in the fort,a Visit which

was much enj oyed . I had now the extreme satisfaction of having taken three Viceroys Of India insuccession into the defiles of the historical Pass , andnot one of these trips had been marred or spoilt byany hitch or accident . It is a great gratification tolook back on this

,and I was extremely thankful that

such good fortune had attended my humble effortsa nd the work of the Khyber staff and Khyber Rifles

,

who laboured heart and soul to assist me . Whatevers uccess w as secured w as entirely due to their ex ert ions , and to them must be assigned all the credit .In a previous chapter on Amin Khan , 1892 , I

have pointed out that circumstances of State hadnecessitated getting rid of my native assistant

,who

w as an Orakzai gentleman Of good family,but who

c ould not keep aloof from intriguing with the representatives of the independent tribes , and he had been

permitted to retire on a pension . I tried my utmostto get him replaced by a European extra assistant

,

because in my Opinion it w as better,safer , and

w iser to have an honest Englishman to deal withthe trans -border tribes than to seek the medium of

1893-94 NEGLECTED LETTERS 273

a native middl eman,who would most certainly bring

us into complications in the end and cause Government a large expenditure in money in punishingsome tribe for the faults of our own Agent . Therewas no extra expense to be incurred

,and the advan

tages would be certain in adopting the recommen

dation submitted by me . But,as I have already

stated, I received no answer to my many letters .The file seems to have been lost in the pigeon-holesOf the Office of the Commissioner of the PeshawarDivision . Nearly four years after the retirement ofthis native assistant

,his place w as given

,on my

recommendation , to Abdul Kerim Khan , my headclerk , who had served well in the Khyber officefor nearly fourteen years . If I had delayed muchlonger in waiting for the European a ssistant therewas the danger of seeing this appointment struckoff our list as being no longer required .

CHAPTER XVII

FINAL YEARS IN THE KHYBER

1895—1897

IN the very centre of the Khyber, which belongs tothe Zakha Khel Afridis, but about amile due north ofthe Khyber Road, is a spring known to the residentsas Slipola .

” In a good season its water supply may

have reached gallons a day ; in a season ofdrought the limit was reduced to about Thespring was high up the side of the mountain in a

deep cliff,and by applying your ear to the rock a

noise w as heard of a larger volume of water dashingwithin than what trickled out into the open . Blastingthe rock might have increased the volume of water,which was of such immense value to men and animalsin this region, but the natives were averse to anysuch action , as they were a fraid that it might dry upthe Spring entirely. During the period of our occu

pation by a large military force in 1879 the twoMaliks and their people were quite averse to givingup this water for the use Of travellers and others ;however

,in the end I persuaded them to adopt my

scheme . A tank was m ade at the head of the spring,

and co‘vered to form a reservoir. The water w as

b rought to the foot of the hill in exposed pipes,

whilst from here to the Khyber Road they were laidunderground, the land having been willingly givenover by the owners without a sking for any payment .

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276 FINAL YEARS IN THE KHYBER CH . XVII

seemed to have forgotten that , under arrangementsmade by the British Government with the tribes of theKhyberRange , the Pass was Open to caravans on Tuesdays and Fridays in every week

,for of this circum

stance she had been made aware when going up toCaubul from Peshawar . Sardar Nasrulla Khan

,and

not his elder brother Sardar Hab ibulla,the presumed

heir apparent to the throne of Afghanistan,had been

selected to take up the coveted invitation,and I had

again the troublesome duty Of supplying the wantsOf the Afghan party

,as I had to do in 1885

,when

H .H . Amir Abdur Rahman Khan j ourneyed downto the Rawal Pindi darbar .We were first told that the Sardar would reach

Peshawar on April 6 , 1895 ; the second intimationw as that he would be at Landi Kotal on the 1l th,

and reach Peshawar two days later with a retinue ofseventy-nine persons . So Lieutenant-Colonel AslamKhan and I travelled to Landi Kotal on the 9th

,and

were there j oined by Lieutenant-Colonel Talbot andSurgeon-Maj or Leahy

,who had come up to meet

Sardar Nasrulla Khan and accompany him toEngland

,on Friday

,April 12 . D ay after day we

waited ; all the supplies of fruit brought up fromBombay and Peshawar became spoilt

,and had to

be thrown away . On the 15th for the first timew e received reliable information that the Sardarwould arrive on the 17th , and that his suite wouldcon sist

,not of seventy-nine

,but of 300 persons

,600

horses,mules , and ponies . SO fresh arrangements

had to be made , for nothing extra Was obtainablenearer than Peshawar—thirty-one miles away . At

last the morning of April 18 found us with a

squadron of the 13th D .C .O. Bengal Lancers wait

1895-97 GUARDING NASRULLA KHAN 277

ing at Tor Kham to receive Nasrulla, who with hissuite arrived about One man I knew well ,and that was Sardar Muhammad Hassan Khan , theGovernor of Jelallab ad in 1879, whose career I havea lready fully described . Our stay at Landi Kotaland the halt at Jamrud the next day were periods of

g reat anxiety, and the camp at the last place was

surrounded by three circles of watchmen & (1) in theouter circle came posts of the Kuki Khel tribesmen ;

(2) then came sentries of the Khyber Rifles ; (3)sentries from the regular regiments of Native cavalryand infantry ; last of all came the Sardar

’ s own

guards , who kept to their own camp . Fortunatelyboth nights were passed peacefully, and it w aswith extreme j oy that we found ourselves withinthe Cantonments of Peshawar on the morning ofApril 20.

Captain Minchin , in accordance with his wishes ,had gone back to his original department under theGovernment of India , and the Khyber was deprivedof his services . What I had anticipated and fearedactually occurred. His place was not filled up inall 1895 , nor until October 1896 . Why or whereforethis great delay occurred need not be entered intohere

,beyond stating that it was needless and posi

tively wrong in principle . In the meanwhile theChitral war progressed ; Surgeon-Maj or Robertsonhad been released, and the gatherings of Sher Afzaland Umra Khan dispersed. But the Chitral problemremained to be grasped.

Peace and quiet reigned in the Khyber Hillsduring the whole of 1895 , and the Civil Engineer,

was busy at Landi Kotal improving theTangi water supply scheme . So many trips had to

278 FINAL YEARS IN THE KHYBER CH . x vx x

be made up and down the Khyber that I had littletime to make a careful inspection of the buildings ,huge reservoir, and enormous tanks and troughsfor watering animals which had been brought intoexistence by the energy of the Engineer Department .The return of Amin Khan

,and his reappoint

ment as Malik of half the Kuki Khel Afridis by thePanj ab Government , had caused much discontentamongst the party who had been on the side of theBritish Government during the period when thisyoung man was viciously opposed to us and doinghis best to ruin himself. I could see that there wasan inclination to constitute him sole Malik

,and turn

out Kambar, the son of Malik Akbar Khan,deceased .

However,the matter was not attempted with a strong

hand just then , and it would have been a cause ofdeep

,bitter regret had it succeeded at any time ,more

so during my incumbency of the Khyber arrangements . The party in Jam and Sarkai who belongedto Kamb ar

’

s side were , however, guilty of a veryserious and extremely foolish offence in the northernhornwork of Fort Jamrud

,which offence they wished

to place on the shoulders of Malik Amin Khan and

his allies . For this the tribe were heavily fined , and itwas explained to Malik Kambar that measures of thisnature would only ruin his cause and ej ect him fromthe half Maliki he w as now enj oying . In a measureAmin Khan was to blame for this him self . He hadbeen warned by Mr . Hastings , and again repeatedlyby myself

,not to go to Jam on any account without

first obtaining the sanction of the Political Officerof Khyber . He failed to obey these orders

,which in

the first instance came from the Government of the

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280 FINAL YEARS IN THE KHYBER ex . x vx x

bear on them until their removal to a place of safety.

But Amin Khan ’ s days were numbered . He hadlost his left eye some years before in trying to ramdown a Snider bullet into a M artini-Henry rifle ,and now his right arm w as rendered completelyuseless . On August 17 , 1897 , he rushed into Jamrud

,and warned Sir Richard U dny and the British

authorities that an Afridi lashkar,

strong,

with Mullahs from Ningrahar, was moving toattack all the Khyber post s

,from Landi Kotal down

wards . When I came from Tirah by the BaraValley, and was ordered by Sir William Lockhartto tackle the Afridi question at the comm encementof January 1898, Amin Khan was worked with theother Afridi Maliks and j irgas part Of that monthand the whole of February and March , by the end ofwhich time nearly the whole Afridi fine in rifles andcash had been paid up . Ill health forced me to leaveJamrud on April 5 , 1898, and I never saw him again .

He was murdered at Jam on December 6 , 1898. Noparticulars reached me as to who did this act , butAmin Khan had waded knee-deep through blood andmurder

,and it seemed certain that vengeance would

overtake him sooner or later . He could not havebeen more than thirty-four years Old at the time ofhis death .

The month of August 1896 saw me once more atLandi Kotal , and Lieutenant-Colonel Aslam Khanmade the j ourney with me at the commencement ofthe month . The hundreds of peach, mulberry, andalmond trees planted in the serai were making splen

did progress , but what was more gladdening was togo down towards Landi Khana for about yardsby the main road, and see the grand reservoir and

1895-97 CAPTAIN BARTON’S APPOINTMENT 281

the three immense Open tanks all full to the brimwith excellent water

,whilst on the road were laid

open troughs for watering all animals j ourneying upand down the Khyber Road, to or from Dakka . Al l

this work,the labour of years

,had been carried out

with the friendly assistance and co-Operation of theShinwari tribesmen

,without having caused a second

’ sanxiety to Government and without invoking any outside aid . A splendid serai for kafilas and caravans hadalso been built

,and now poor travellers could have the

means Of securing shelter and cover from the rain andstorms ofwind that often sweptwith great Violence overthe plateau . The reproach of lack of shelter for thesepoor travellers had at last been wiped away . Maj orand Mrs . Chesney came up to Landi Kotal for a

couple of weeks . The former w as our Engineer inChief

,and looked to all the repairs and requirements

from Landi Khana to the caravan serai at Jamrud,

where a splendid hospital had been built for the menOf the Khyber Rifles

,and a dispensary organised for

the use Of those men and women of the independenttribes and kafilas who cared to place themselvesunder the care of our worthy native doctor

,Kazi

Imran . The little folks,boys and girls

,Of the Landi

Kotal plateau had their two or three treats, and then

I went down to Peshawar,and my last summer stay

in the Khyber Hills came to a close .

At the commencement OfNovember 1896,Captain

Barton , of the Corps of Guides , came to me as

assistant , and he was to take up the command Of theKhyber Rifles when Lieutenant~Colonel Aslam Khanretired on pension . This native gentleman would havebeen retired some three years previously under the ageclause had I not recommended his further retention

282 FINAL YEARS IN THE KHYBER CH . x vII

for the Old man ’ s sake,and further because no

arrangements had been made until then to Obtain a

successor to him . Sir William Lockhart arrived atPeshawar on November 26

,but his intended trip to

Landi Kotal and Tor-Sappar w as set aside on accountof torrents of rain . The Lieutenant-Governor of thePanjab , Sir D . Fitzpatrick

, who had been interviewing the Tarakzai , Halimzai

,Burhan Khel ,

Isakhel , D awezai, and Utmanzai , the Six clans of theMohmands affected by the Durand boundary line ,at a darbar held near Shabkaddar

,also j ourneyed

into Peshawar when the ceremony was over .I was fortunate enough

,at last

,in being able to

carry out a great wish of mine,which was to take

General Sir W . Lockhart to see Tor-Sappar . Underarrangement

,Sir William and Captain Haldane left

Peshawar with me very early on the morning ofFebruary 22

,and having spent a good hour at Tor

Sappar,we were back in Peshawar the same evening

by 7 P .M .,having done our seventy-eight miles since

morning . On March 10 I took up Mr. (now Sir R .)U dny and two members of the Mohmand BoundaryCommission to Landi Kotal , and the next morningthey went to interview Sipah Salar Gholam HyderKhan , Charkhi , at Landi Khana , and there was a conference extending over several hours . When theyreturned at PM in the evening it seemedevident from what one could pick up that theBoundary Mission w as doomed . I was compelled togo back to Peshawar on March 12 , and a few dayslater these three gentlemen returned also

,and in

this way the Boundary Demarcation Mission cameto an end . Three days later—Le . on April 7—Maj orGeneral Sir E . Collen

,Captains Dick and Barton ,

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284 FINAL YEARS IN THE KHYBER CH . x vx x

repaid Government in the end . But other peopleknew better

,and now

,when the day of my departure

arrived, there w as no European officer to take myplace , and the Khyber charge w as entrusted toLieutenant-Colonel Aslam Khan

,whose pension

papers were already before the Panjab Government ,the command of the Khyber corps being taken overby Captain Barton .

For days Peshawar swarmed with Afridis , who

had come for their allowances and purchases beforemigrating to their summer quarters in Bara , Tirah ,Bajgal , and the Bazar Valley, for the hot weather wasrapidly coming on . There w as no single questiontroubling their minds seriously which w as likely toinduce them to take up arms against the BritishGovernment . The increase in the salt tax ,

howeverrepugnant it might have been to them some yearsbefore

,had now been almost forgotten . The Samana

question even in 1891 and 1892 had no interest forthem when they learnt that their own Afridi countrywas not to be invaded

,provided they abstained from

interfering with the troops operating against theOrakzai clans in the Miranzai campaign . With theaffairs of Swat they had no concern , and I am convinced that the Khyber Rifles would have willinglyshared in the Chitral-Swat campaign if they hadbeen allowed to go . The Durand Boundary Linecaused them no alarm ,

and its settlement w as lookedforward to by our Shinwaris

,as they hoped to get

back the hamlet of Derbend and some grazing landsthen held by the Amir

’ s people which they claimed .

Regarding the restoration Of their women,there were

in some cases j ust cause of complaint against us ;but since the number of females who were concerned

1895-97 EXPIRATION OF SERVICE 285

was so few ,say two or three in the year , the mass Of

the people did not care to trouble themselves muchover it . When the husband or near relation of thewoman worried a Malik or a j irga to plead hisclaim

,they did so

,as tribal custom forced them to do

it . Having once made the appeal,these retired and

left the subj ect alone for the future , until worried bythe husband to make a second appeal . With the exception of this grievance , and a complaint of Peshawaris going sometimes into Afridi land and cuttingwood and dwarf palm belonging to others , I can

honestly affirm that I knew of no other grievancewhich the Afridis could have had against us . An d onthat afternoon of M ay 10, 1897 , when some Englishfriends came to bid me good-bye , there were hundredsof Afridis—Maliks , elders , and j irgas—crowding therailway platform to take a last look at one who hadbeen associated with them ,

Off and on,for nigh

eighteen years . It was with a very sorrowful heartthat I saw the last of them that evening

,as the 5 RM .

train steamed out of the Peshawar Cantonmentstation towards Rawal Pindi . I little dreamt thenthat the ‘Khyber D e

’

bacle’ of August 1897 would

carry me through every quarter of Afridi land,in the

toughest and hardest fought campaign I ever had themisfortune or honour of being associated with .

Two months were spent pleasantly at Murree,and

then July 11 , 1897 , came round and my time ofservice in the Khyber expired

,and Lieutenant Colonel

Aslam Khan was confirmed In the officiating post ofPolitical Officer, Khyber Pass . The accompanyingletter from the Government of the Panj ab was

forwarded to me by Sir R . U dny, Commissioner andSuperintendent , Peshawar Division .

286 FINAL YEARS IN THE KHYBER ex . x vx x

Copy of a L etter, No . 874 , d a ted Simla , July 23, 1897 ,from L . W. D ane

,E squire, Ofiicia l ChiefSecretary

to theGovernment P anj a b , to the Commissioner andSup erintendent, P eshaw ar Division.

In forwarding for communication to Colonel R. War

burton, the accompanying copy ofPanjab GovernmentGazette , Notification No . 834 S of this date , replacing hisservices at the disposal of the M ilitary Department, I amdesired to convey the following remarks .

Colonel Warburton has b een in charge of the Khyb eralmost ever since the British Governm ent took over chargeof the arrangements conn ected with the Pass in 1879, and

practically continuously since 1882 , and the credit for thesuccess which has b een Ob tained in carrying out the arrangements initiated by the late Colonel Hastings, and therebysecuring the safety of the road and the estab lishment of

fairly friendly relations w ith theKhyb erAfridis, must largelyb e attributed to his efforts . These efforts have b een

recognised by the conferment on him , on January 1, 1890, ofthe but as he is now leaving civil employ, the thanksof this Government are due to him for his services, which inthe earlier days of our m anagement of the Pass at any rate

involved considerab le personal risk and ex posure . The task

which Colonel Warburton and his ab le Assistant Colonel

M ahommad Aslam Khan , had to perform was noveland of unusual difficulty, and the fact tha t the Khyb er on a

Kafila day is now as safe as a high road in India , and thatthe Khyb er Rifles have b een developed from a body of rudeJezailchies into a fine Corps , keen for active service underthe British Government even out of their own tribal limits,w ill b e a lasting memorial of the good work which Colonel

Warburton has perform ed in the service of Government .

A copy of this letter Should b e furnished to ColonelWarburton.

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CHAPTER XVIII

THE KHYBER DEBA‘

CLE

I HAVE already noted in the previous chapter thatat the time of my leaving Peshawar on the afternoonof M ay 10, 1897 , the hori zon Of Khyber politicswas unclouded and bright . Aft er years of patientwork, and without any aid in force from Government , the roads , season after season

,had been re

paired,the military posts kept in excellent service

able order,a large fortified serai

, and a kafila onehad been built up at Landi Kotal and the watersupply in the Khyber and at Landi Kotal had beensatisfactorily provided for . A reservoir had beenmade at Yakh-Chena , to gallons wasthe daily supply given out by this means in theexceedingly dry season of 1888, when measuredby Lieutenant (now Lieutenant-Colonel) Macdonald

,

RE . Malik Am in Khan ’ s movement had beencrushed in 1892 , but he had been given anotherchance to do us mischief if the Sniders of his victimshad not maimed him for ever. The Maliks who hadhelped in his ruin were themselves sufferers by thecourse of events . I knew that a British Officer couldhave been taken to Chora , the Bazar and BaraValleys , and even up to Tirah, but the Commissich er of the Peshawar Division had written thatneither I nor my subordinates were to go to either

1897 No REAL AFRIDI GRIEVANCE 289

Side of the Khyber Road without permission obtainedfrom certain authorities . Anything that we wanteddone on the Khyber Road or from ten to fifteen mileson the North towards the Caubul River could havebeen accomplished and carried out with as muchease as if in the Peshawar Valley . British and Indianlife and property were as safe in the Khyber as inany part of the Panjab Province . When the Afridisand I parted on the railway platform that afternoon the salt tax ,

the Samana occupation, werematters unheard of. An d it was a question whichnever troubled the Afridi mind once he had realisedthe fact that we held the Samana in order to preventOrakzai thieves and raiders stealing and carryingaway Bangash property , and not with the sinisterobj ect of invading and annexing his beloved Tirah .

The complaint regarding their women still rankled insome minds

,but the numbers were so few that

pressure in this matter w as by no means great .There were about Afridis in the serviceof the British Government

,d istributed amongst

the various regiments,corps

,and police

, who werepermitted to enlist men of this class . I

‘

believethat in this lot the men of the Khyber Rifleswho were Afridis were not included. Then therewere several hundreds who enjoyed monthly pensionsfor long years of good and meritorious service , andlast of all came the Khyber allowances . The readermay then ask, since the Afridis had been loaded withkindness and had no real grievance against theBritish and Indian Governments

,how came it that

they were induced to rise and attack the posts in theKhyber Pass , and by their own voluntary act bringon the unequal war which ended in the invasion

290 THE KHYBER DEBACLE CH x v i II

of their lands,the destruction of their forts , and the

ruin of their country ’ s prestige ? The Afridi boast thatno conqueror had ever dared to force his w ay intoTirah cannot now be maintained . I give the causeof the revolt as I heard it and as it was commu

nicated to me in writing,but whether it is correct

and right in every detail I shall not discuss here .

The circumstances which had plunged Greeceinto a w ar against Turkey

,and the abuse showered

in England on the Sultan of Turkey,had caused

deep annoyance and indignation in the heart of manyMuhammadans , but this indignation w as centred at

Constantinople and in those cities where the Sunnifaith was in the ascendant

,and to which places news

was conveyed rapidly as to what was said and done incertain capitals of Europe . The wild man of thedependent hills on the Peshawar Border was illinformed on such matters

,and what w as more he did

not in the least care . His daily life was one ofceaseless labour to provide for the wants of hisfamily and to save enough money to buy some day a

Martini-Henry rifle ; and this life he was perfectlys atisfied with and content to live . The wise menof Constantinople , then smarting under the abuseheaped on the successor of the Prophet , looked roundt o see What countries they could turn against for thiswrong

,and whichever way they Viewed the matter

there were only three Governments that had Mussul

m an neighbours and subjects , and in this case thesole offender w as that Power which has the greatestnumber of Muhammadan subj ects . And so

,at the

end of M ay 1897 , reports were circulated at Peshawarthat an agent from Constantinople had reachedCaubul , had interviewed the ruler of the God granted

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292 THE KHYBER DEBACLE CH . x vx x x

ney ; whether he was invited by written or verbal invitation . All that he gave out was that he w as boundon a pilgrimage to the ziarat of Mehtar L am in theLaghman Valley, just two or three miles south ofTigri. The Sipah Salar treated the Sayad for threedays w ith great hospitality and kindness , and at thetime of his departure presented him with 300 rupees .When Sayad Akbar, after doing his pilgrimage , returned to Jelallab ad en rou te to his own country

,he

found that Gholam Hyder Khan had been forced tohurry away to Asmar on account of the fight betweenthe tw o regiments of the Amir ’ s army . So hej ourneyed back to the Bara Valley to his homein Waran

,without having a second interview or

meeting with the Sipah Salar . But there was

nothing to prevent his being in daily or weekly communication with the Sipah Salar, the

‘Mullah ofHadda

,

’ or the ‘Mad Fakir ’ of Swat,during the

Whole of June , July, and the greater part of August1897 . There were hundreds of ‘ Talib s

’

available,

quite ready to go on this or any service under theorders of their head ; the service might have beenmerely to carry a verbal message , and food and

Shelter were available for them at any place wherethere happened to be a mosque . In that quarter ofthe world messages of import are generally sent byword of mouth . A man will write to his dearestfriend in words like these & I am sending this byhand of SO-and -so, who will tell you verbally what Iwant you to do . ’ This sort of procedure leaves noevidence to grapple with once a great mischief hasbeen produced . It is the system which has been

adopted on all occasions by the Arbab and middle

m an of the Panjab N.W. Frontier .

1897 MULLAH SAYAD AKBAR 293

It is impossible to note here on what grounds and

by whom Sayad Akbar was selected for this specialrule of raising up the Afridis and Orakzais against theBritish Governm ent . Of the three chief Mullahsamongst the Afridis he ranked lowest in every way

in the estimation of the tribesmen . He was knownto be grasping and fond Of money , and had taken an

a ctive part in trying to unite the Aka Khel , so as toextract from the numerically weak Sipah Afridis a

portion of their Khyber allowances , the Aka Khelthemselves having no share in that arrangement .

He had taken the side of Malik Sher MuhammadSipah , who was trying to put into his own pocketthe share which he should have given entirely to hisfellow tribesmen . It was an Open secret in the BaraValley that he had committed these two acts , not forthe sake of religion , but to grab good solid rupees .The building of a magnificent house for himselfin Waran

,which took three years in its completion ,

was another proof of his selfish nature . He onlytroubled himself with worldly matters

,leaving the

service of the Prophet and the progress of Islam tothe other two spiritual leaders . These facts lost hima good deal of sta tus amongst the ‘ grey beards

,

’ thewiser portion of the j irgas

,which constitute the

strength of any tribe . At the weekly prayers heldin the simple

,unostentatious mosque at Bagh

,situ

a ted in the Malikdin Khel quarter Of the Maidan ofTirah , which was the meeting-place Of seven tribesof the Afridis , representing an armed populace Of

some fighting men,the man who . commanded

the greatest respect and whose voice secured thec losest attention and obedience was the venerableMullah (M auzoon) of the Malikdin Khel Afridis . He

294 THE KHYBER DEBACLE ex . x vx x x

was an Old man,whose life had been spent in prayer

and in telling the wild Afridi the way he should walkin this life

,and this Mullah seldom or ever interfered

in worldly matters . At the period that Amin Khanspent all his money in 1892 to win the Mullahs to hisside and bribe them to get up an Afridi rising forAm in Khan ’ s cause again st the British

,I was in

communication with the Old Malikdin Khel Mullah,

and he wrote to me saying that he would nevercountenance Amin Khan ’ s action in any way. Aft erwards the old Mul lah ’ s son used to Visit me at

Peshawar, and we met for the last time just beforemy leaving on May 10, 1897 . The family wereinterested in keeping up friendship with the ‘ Sarkar,

’

so far as a Mullah could be depended on for doing SO.

At all events , in case any real trouble was about tobe hatched

,they had promised to warn me of it in

ample time . So little was Sayad Ak bar liked and

respected that at that period, in M ay 1897 , and for

some years before , it was never believed that hecoul d secure a j oint rising of Afridi s and Orakzais .Al l that was recognised about him was that he w asyoung in age , excessively fond of money and power,and that the Afridis call ed him behind his back a

Loe Shaitan .

’

It is not possible to say with any amount of

certainty whether the preaching of the Ghaza was

to be carried out at one and the same time inWaziristan , in Tirah, amongst the Mohmands , and bythe Mad Fakir in the Swat Valley, so that therising should be simultaneous from Maizar in theTochi Valley to Chakdarra and Malakand . It isbelieved that the Wazir Mullah P awindah

, was at

Caubul during May, but at the same time we knew

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296 THE KHYBER DEBACLE cu x vm

made its attack on Shabkaddar on August 9 . And itw as on the 22nd

,nearly fourteen days later , that the

Afridi lashkar appeared at Lala Chena and commencedthe attack on the posts of Shadi Bagiar, Jehangira , Fort Maud on the following day. When theseposts had been secured and burnt then they movedwestwards to concentrate their attention on Fort AliMasj id . It m ay be accepted, therefore , that there isno proof of any attempt having been made to raisethe border from Maizar round northwards to theSwat Valley in one combined movement against us .The ‘M ad Mullah ’ made his attack

, and when hefound that he could not succeed he applied to thepriest of Hadda for help

,and that gentleman in his

turn sent messengers to Sayad Akbar,asking him to

co-operate and make a diversion with a j oint lashkarof Afridis and Orakzais .Whether Sayad Akbar w as in unison with the

Sipah Salar Gholam Hyder Khan,or with any

other Official of the Afghan Government,in bring

ing up this Afridi -Orakzai gathering there is noproof of a reliable sort beyond intelligence broughtdown by word of mouth but news of this nature cannever be trusted . Some may deny even his j ourneyto the ziarat of Mehtar L am in L aghman , and hismeeting with Gholam Hyder Khan at Jelallab adduring the month of M ay 1897 . To this one answermight be given

,which is that unless the ‘ Hadda

Mullah or some of his principal supporters had metand seen Sayad Akbar in Jelallab ad , or had beenpreviously acquainted with him in some way, therewas no reason why an appeal should have been madeto the least influential and weakest of the three notedAfridi Mullahs to preach a religious war amongst

1897 QUESTION OF RE-EMPLOYMENT 297

Afridis and Orakzais , and induce them to combineagainst the powerful British Government .I heard from friend s who were in Peshawar

during that month of August 1897 that it was notuntil after the Shabkaddar incident of August 9 thatnews came down from Tirah of agitation by Mullahs ,urging the Afridis and Orakzais to commence waragainst the British Power . But even with thisagitation , our men on leave were allowed to comeand go freely to and from Tirah , and no visible pressure was brought on them for being in the service ofour Government . On August 13 I had been invitedto the house of General Sir G . Wolseley ,Commanding the Forces

,Panjab

,who was anxious

to learn news from the direction Of the Khyber, and ,returning home at sunset

,I found an urgent State

telegram from the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India worded thus & ‘ If Government proposed to re—employ you specially with reference toAfridi affairs

,would you be willing ? ’ My answer

was‘Ready for any Government service if required .

’

And to make sure that my reply shoul d be sent Offthat very night

,I despatched it by the hands of my

orderly, and received his report on his return thatmy instructions had been carried out

,and the receipt

from the telegraph Ofiice delivered to me . But a week ,or rather eight days

,passed

,and all endeavours to

get news from Peshawar or Fort Jamrud ended infailure . At last came the fatal August 22

,when

the Afridi lashkar,’ moving along the same route as

the Afridi ‘ lashkars ’ of 1878 and 1892,appeared in

the country to the south of Lala Chena . It was thenthat the impertinent message was sent asking thatthe British troops be cleared out of the Samana and

298 THE KHYBER DEBACLE ox . x vm

the Malakand,the salt tax to be lowered

,and their

women to be restored ; which conditions being carriedOut the Afridi gathering would return to their homes .I believe this message never came from the Afridis ,but w as sent by some ra scally Mullah , and that theassembly were afraid to tell the truth about it .I shall say nothing here that may help to re-open

Old sores and create fresh pangs . A certain policyhas been carried out by the Supreme Government

,

and to that policy every servant Of State must howso long as he remains in the service of Government .But there can be no Obj ection in writing what I am

now doing . Before going to Tirah I had opportunities of seeing Afridi native offi cers at Rawal Pindi ,at Kohat , and in Tirah itself, and when w e camedown to Jamrud all the negotiations With the Afridis ,except those with the Akha Khels , were entirelyin my hands from January 1 to April 5 , 1898 . I hadtherefore Opportunities Of conversing w ith and interview ing some thousands Of men . Those that Iquestioned said ,

‘ their lashkar had not come downto fight the Sarkar . ’ ‘ Then what made you comedown ? ’ ‘ The Mullahs brought us down .

’ ‘Whydid you Obey the Mullahs , and Why did you not turnthem out of your country ? ’ ‘ They were toopowerful for us . ’ ‘Had you any real grievanceagainst the British Government to induce you tofight against it ? ’ ‘NO, we had not .

’ ‘ Then why

did you attack the posts ? The Mullahs forced us .’

This m ay appear rank falsehood , b ut , knowing thepower of the priestly class in a Muhammadancountry

,I look to the report brought down by

Malik Amin Khan , Kuki Khel , on August 17 , and it

appears worded in Sir R . U dny’

s telegram to Govern

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300 THE KHYBER DEBACLE on . x vx x x

the Tirah expedition . I am convinced that withouthis intervention on my behalf I should not haveshared in that campaign . This telegram reachedme & Simla , September 29, from Foreign , 3697F . General Sir William Lockhart has asked that

you be appointed to his political staff in the TirahExpedition

,on which Sir Richard U dny is chief

political officer . If you are willing to serve , pleaselet Sir William Lockhart and me know

,and arrange

directly with Sir William as to j oining him . I shallthen settle the question of pay and of your re-employment . ’ Sir William Lockhart and his Chief Of theStaff

,General W. G . Nicholson

,had arrived a couple

Of days before at Murree from Simla,so I hastened to

Sir William at once to thank him for his goodnessand to await his orders . I also replied to the ForeignDepartment accepting the position . I j ourneyedto Kohat

,which w as reached on October 7 , and I

w as at Kahi on the 18th of that month , when thefirst attack on Dargai took place . We reachedShenawari on the 19th,

and the next day, field -glassin hand

,I witnessed the Whole panorama of fight ,

which meant the second attack on Dargai . Itw as 10 A .M . as the first gun on our side openedfire

,and five minutes to 3 PM . when the bayonets

of our men on the heights of Dargai told of thecapture of that place after a stubborn fight of five

hours . The combatants looked so near at hand that ,with a good powerful glass , the different attacksc ould be plainly and easily discerned . My attentionw as often drawn to the left of the enemy

’ s positionnear ‘Narikh Sukka ’

(to our right as we looked inthat direction), where a figure in white was seenstanding on the ridge and waving his ‘ lungi ’

at

1897 THE TIRAH MAIDAN 301

intervals . My own opinion was that this figure inwhite was a Mullah , who had placed him self in a

prominent position to watch our advance and givewarning when the rushes were made . He was

seen in the same position for a very long time bymyself and others , although he was not visible tothe batteries firing from the plateau . What becameof him eventually none of us could tell . Hisbehaviour

,however , was admirable and brave to a

degree .

The Sampaga Pass was stormed on October 29,and the Arhanga captured two days later, and on thela st day of October 1897 three brigades of the TirahExpeditionary Force were encamped in the Maidanof Tirah . As we expected to remain for a few days

,

we did what we could to make ourselves comfortableby digging down a foot or so inside our tents toshelter ourselves from the Wind, and to secure a

place where it was possible to eat our meals undertolerable cover . The days were certainly fairly warmand sunshiny, but the nights and mornings wereintensely cold . The thermometer showed twentyone degrees of frost on some nights , and water inthe washing basins outside the tent was frozen to athickness of two and a half inches during the night

.

If I who lived in very tolerable comfort , with a smalltent over me and sufiiciency of clothing at night , feltthe intense cold, What must have been the conditionof the Offi cer, soldier, European or native , who was

out on night duty, whether in camp or on the heightssurround ing us , or the feeling of the camp followersfrom Central and Eastern India who had neverbefore felt such weather Luckily rain

,which meant

snow in those high regions,kept away

,and during

302 THE KHYBER DEBACLE ox . x vx x x

our residence at Maidan and Bagh w e hardly had a

cloudy d ay, the forerunner of wet weather on theNorth-Western Frontier of India . For a few days thecamp w as annoyed by prowlers firing indiscriminatelyinto it . On the 9th about thirty-one representativesfrom the Afridis came in to interview us

,and Iwent

across the ravine to a large building which had beenset apart for their accommodation . One Old man ofabout seventy, who at one period of his existence hadbeen in the ranks of some regiment Of our nativearmy

, was kind enough to say to me ,‘With the

exception of your field -guns,which we have not ,

m an to m an w e are as good as any of you .

’ Butthere w as no exaltation in the minds and appearanceOf any Afridis that it w as my luck to interview and

converse with during the campaign . In the firstbatch that came in w ere four to five of our old pensioners , each man with three or four medals pinnedon to his left shoulder or slung round his neck

,

records of twenty to twenty-five years of devotionand service to the Sarkar in all parts of the worldEgypt

,Tel-el-Kebir, Suakim . Were these the men

who w anted to bring on an Afridi w ar againstEngland ? Their small pensions w ere the stand-byof their homes in their old age , to secure which theyj ourneyed twice a year to Peshawar , and every Afridienvied these Old veterans . Their faces showed pain

and sorrow,for they and the whole nation were about

to suffer for the fault and mischief of a rascallyMullah .

On November 13 General Kempster ’ s brigade

was sent into Waran Tirah,and I was directed to

proceed with it,and did so , taking five of the Aka

Khel Afridi j irga . Our route lay by the foot of the

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304 THE KHYBER DEBACLE ox . x vIII

midday I was at Tseri-Kandao , and heard ColonelAbbott

,commanding the 15 th ' Sikhs , talking with

General Kempster . When I j oined the last-namedOfficer at the spot where the Zakha Khel hamletscommenced due south Of the gun-tree position on theSaran-Sar ascent

,w e felt assured that the Afridis

meant business . At intervals of fifteen yards or so,

never together,m an after man w as seen coming down

wearing the flat skull cap , the pyjamas knotted at theknee

,and the rifle carried in the usual way, and all

disappearing behind a proj ecting hillock far up on theascent .November 19 saw the Headquarter Camp moved

to Bagh,and two days later , at 6 PM

,intimation was

conveyed to me that I was to proceed on the morrowwith Sir William and part of the Headquarter Staff

,

and Fourth Brigade , to Dwa-Toe . About 8 A .M . onNovember 22 SirWilliam with his staff started downthis defile

,and a very raw cold evening w as setting

in when,after wading some seventy times through

icy-cold water , we at length reached the tower onthe right bank of the Bara stream which marks and

gives the name (d iva , two toe,streams) to the junc

tion Of the Bara and the overflow from Bagh . Wesoon found our camp , but our kit did not arrive till

3 PM . the next day. A good Samaritan in thatgrand regiment , the King

’ s Own Scottish Borderers,

dragged me over to his mess and gave me a cup ofcocoa and some food . The guard of the 3rd Sikhscooked some bread

,and from their slender stock

brought what they could for the wants of the Officersof the Headquarter Staff. All that night , with thethermometer something like 20

° below freezing-point,

Annesley and I lay to the leeward of a roaring fire,

1897 COLD CAMPAIGNING 305

trying to warm ourselves from the icy-cold windblowing hard from the snow-clad Safed-Koh . Therewas no rest

\

for any of uS that night , and graduallyone by one all came and sat round the fire , and

waited there till daybreak .

The officers of the gave me some breakfast

,and by 3 PM . our things were in and we had a

good lunch . But by evening time the enemy gotpossession of a peak

,from which they plumped three

bullets into our fire , which then had to be put out .However

,the night of the 23rd passed under better

circumstances than the previous one . On the 24thwe journeyed back to Bagh

,a strong wind blowing

down this detestable , diabolical defile ; and so coldwas it that the rushing water froze on my pony ’ sfeet and flanks wherever it touched the animal . Itwas with some difficulty that I coul d induce him to

face the water . If a strong hardy animal smartedunder this cold , what must have been the feelings ofthe dooley-bearers and the drivers

,who had lived all

their lives in a warm climate ? I myself was compelledto get Off

,and for warmth ’ s sake take to the path

which went up the hill on the right-hand side,but

the country and the path were on a par.Just

before leaving Dwa—Toe that morning Lord Methuenhad kindly given me four or five small biscuits

, and

told me to put them into my pocket as they mightbe of use on the j ourney back . Walking up that b adroad I came upon two or three men Of thewho were on baggage guard

, and offered the biscuitsto one who seemed to be in charge of the party .

Breaking each into four small portions,he gave one

bit (hardly a bite) to each Of the escort , calling up therest who were in front to share . It was a generous

,uh

306 THE KHYBER DEBACLE on . x vx x x

selfish act on his part,for he might have put the lot

into his pocket,no one being a bit the wiser . The

road w as , as I have said , very b ad , but when I wasin difficulties over a nasty bit of ground these mencame back a hundred yards to give me a helpinghand .

Sir W . Lockhart returned to Bagh on December 6from his trip to the Champ Kanni country, and orderswere issued for the Second Division to march to DwaToe again on the 7th and remain - there on December8 and 9. This time there w as no Opposition untilDwa -Toe was reached

,and for three days and two

nights not a shot was fired in the defile . The KukiKhel

,who had promised to meet us at Dwa -Toe with

their j irga and hand over as much of their fine inrifles and cash a s they possibly could

,w ere led astray

at the last moment by emissaries from the SanguKhel Shinwari country . So they met us as enemiesinstead of as friends , and suffered for it severely inconsequence .

December 10 saw us marching down the BaraValley, the Fourth Brigade in advance , whilst thethird took up the ro‘ le of rear guard, and our halt w asat Sandana in Sipah Afridi-Bara . Clouds hadgathered round , concealing the mountain tops , and

Slight rain fell during the night , making it extremelyunpleasant for those who had no shelter . The morning of the 1l th,

sunless and chilly , saw us marchingthrough the Zakha Khel country to Sher Khel Killiin the limits Of the Aka Khel , and here we haltedfor the 11th and 12th to enable the brigade tocome up . My native assistant , Sayad Secunder Shah ,had a very narrow escape 011 the l oth, and IWas veryanx ious about him ,

as he was the son of a man

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308 THE KHYBER DEBACLE on . x vnr

clung to the rearguard until it was clear of the hills .Here we remained resting on December 14 , 15 , and 16 ,and on the morning of the 17th I suffered the firstloss Of property during my eighteen years ’ experiencein the Khyber—my baggage pony, a charger b elonging to Colonel Barrow

,a pony of Captain Swan

stone ’ s , and some mules ridden by signallers , havingbeen appropriated by some clever Afridi thieves . On

the 17th w e moved to Bara,and after a few days ’

grace the FirstDivision was concentrated at Al iMasj idon December 24 . I had there the pleasure of beingintroduced to General Sir H . Havelock Allan

,who

arrived at Lala Chena that evening . Sir W . Lock s

hart w as going with his staff and General Gaselee ’

s

brigade to Chora , whilst General Symons and GeneralHart

, V .C .

,with the First Brigade

,were to proceed by

Ilacha,and spend Christmas D ay at Karamna . At

the last moment I was directed to proceed with theKaramna column . The j ourney to Karamna was a

trying one , as the road was very b ad , and it was latein the evening when we reached our goal . GeneralHart with the rearguard , however, did not come intill midday on the 26th. Luckily the march to Bargdown a difficult defile

,w as not more than three miles ,

and by sunset of the 26th the whole brigade wasunited . Our encamping ground was a beautiful Spotwith a clear stream of running water , and well coveredhills to the east and south

,just the place suitable

for Afridi sharpshooters , but happily we were notmuch troubled by them . We remained at Barg tillthe morning of the 28th

,when we retraced our steps

to Karamna , and I passed an exceedingly trying d aywith fever and ague on me . The rain , too , kept pouring down till the time of our departure forAliMasj id ,

1897 DEATH OF SIR HAVELOCK ALLAN 309

which was reached about 1 P .M . on the 29th. The

enemy w as as active as ever,and followed up our

rearguard to within yards Of the camp . Theusual Ali Masj id wind w as blowing a tornado down

the Pass , and the flapping of the tents made ourrest unpleasant but the next morning repaid us , forwith a clear sky overhead and no wind to troubleanyone we marched to Jamrud and took up ourquarters there until the Afridis complied with theorders of Government . Those who coul d and werepermitted to depart

,bade farewell to the regions of

the Khyber Range . I went into Peshawar aboutmidday on December 31, but had been barely theretwo hours when an urgent State telegram was

handed to me informing m e that Sir Havelock Allanwas missing

,and that I was to proceed at once to Ali

Masj id to make inquiries as to what had become ofhim ,

and if found alive to bring him back . However,

before my tonga had passed the limits Of Peshaw arCantonments en rou te to Jamrud I met anothert onga , under a cavalry escort

,carrying in the dead

body of the unfortunate General . I continued myjourney to Jamrud

,whence in due time I reported for

the information of Sir William Lockhart all that Icould learn regarding the death of the gallantofficer .I had done the whole of the Tirah campaign on

foot (except about three miles through water on horseback) and the result was that I enj oyed most excellenthealth Whilst we were on the move . NOW my dutiesat Jamrud confined me to a small room and theA fridi j irgas . There was no rest from 6 A .H . till 12m idnight . I did my utmost to prevent a spring campaign, for I knew that if one was necessary it would

310 THE KHYBER DEBACLE on . x vm

last to the following November,costing millions in

money and many lives . My whole thoughts and

energies were therefore devoted to the establishmentof a permanent peace . All the native Afridi officersfrom the various regiments

,who had come up to

Jamrud to assist me,especially Subadar Maj or Yasin

Khan , all the headm en and j irgas of the variousAfridi tribes , Captain Barton , my native assistant

,

Secunder Shah,all worked might and main to give

me a helping hand towards this obj ect . GeneralSymons

,commanding the First Division Tirah

Expeditionary Force , and Generals Gaselee and

Hart , commanding the Second and First Brigades,

rendered every support . What with threats on theone hand and honest earnest exertions of the eldersof the tribe on the other

,the wished for result ensued

on April 2,1898 , the Afridi fine in rifles and cash was

paid up,and the spring campaign prevented just in

the nick of time . It f w as the exertions of otherswhich produced this happy result . Without suchexertions my work would have been in vain .

I have no desire to write a word on the militaryportion of the Tirah campaign

,for that is a subj ect I

do not pretend to criticise . But para . 2 of the SpecialOrder

,dated Camp Peshawar, April 4 , 1898, puts the

matter admirably .

From the b eginning of Octob er to the middle of

January the Force w as engaged in active operations , and

seldom have troops b een called upon to undergo greaterfatigue , or to meet a more vigilant and enterprising enemy.

After long m arches in cold and w et , harassed by distantrifle-fire and by assaults at close quarters , the columns

b ivouacked in positions which had to b e protected bynumerous strong picquets posted on commanding heights ,and those picquets w ere always liab le to determined attacks ,

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1897 FAITHFUL AFRIDI ORDERLIES 311

and to molestation in w ithdrawal . There was , in fact , littleor no rest for the Force , the most careful chosen camping

ground b eing generally open to long range fire from scatteredindividual marksmen ,

armed with the most accurateweapons .

The Tirah campaign brought out the finest qualities of the British officer and British soldier , and oftheir companions of the Native Army and ImperialTroops . And this campaign made me respect the

Afridi greatly, not only as enemies but as friends also .

I had good reason to do so . From the first week inOctober 1897 to April 5 , 1898, I had with me four

Afridi orderlies from the Khyber Rifles who acted

also as guides or scouts , and were continually beingrequisitioned for that purpose . Al l proved faithful

and loyal, althoughworking against their own countrymen . One of them broke down from pneumonia ,but the others continued to do the trying and perilousduties required of them . They would often go out oftheir own accord to gather information

,and frequently

returned with their clothes riddled with bull et holes ,proofs of the wonderful escapes they had had .

When it is remembered that they were literallycarrying their lives hourly in their hands

,and knew

the cruel certain fate which awaited them if theywere taken prisoners

,I do not think that I exaggerate

in saying that such loyalty to the Sarkar deservedrecognition , and that no men better earned theVictoria Cross or the Military Order of Merit thanthese . But they got nothing .

The true political history of the campaign couldonly be written by one man—Sir William Lockhart

,

who commanded the Tirah Expeditionary Force .

Without his express sanction I would not venture to

312 THE KHYBER DEBACLE cu . x vnr

trespass on such ground . I have had the privilegeof knowing my chief for thirty-one years , since wefirst met in Abyssinia in 1868 . However much Irespected and honoured him as a soldier and as

a General,this campaign of 1897—1898 has in my

mind doubly endeared him to all who had the privilege of closely watching and knowing what he didand what he had to go through . With sincere thanksto him

,to General Sir W . G . Nicholson , Colonel

Barrow,Captain Haldane , and all the Headquarter

Staff who so helped me in my labours , I close mycontribution to the ‘ Khyber D ébdcle ’

and it s conse

quences .

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314 FRONTIER POLICY on . x I x

during the period of their rule,under men like

General Avitab ili and others,is known only to the

very few survivors of those days,but the effect of

their harsh rule w as to bring into the field againstthem men like Syad Ahmad Shah

,the head and

founder of the Hindustani Fanatics,and to fill the

independent hills in certain localities with enemiesmen of influence and position—around whom ralliedall the Mullahs and disaffected rascals in the district .The Sikhs on their part

,later on

,were compelled to

employ Arb ab s or middlemen as go—betweens and

farmers of revenue . The last measure often savedthem from having to move out a force when theharvests were being gathered in

,in order to secure

the quota of revenue due from some distant powerfuland recalcitrant village close to the independentborderland . Of this Arbab class w as Mir Babu ofChargullai, a leading man of the Sudum Valley , bordering on the powerful Buner country— the fatherof Aj ab Khan , whose career and ultimate fate has

already been described in a previous chapter.When we broke the Sikh power, and took from

them the di stricts which constitute Hazara and thoseacross the Indus , we took also upon our shoulders ,for the time being

,all the heritage of antipathy and

hatred which Syad Ahmad Shah ’ s descendants ,the Mullah leaders , and refugee notables had for thecruel Sikh . We were on trial , and the Afghan war

of 1839—42 w as not forgotten , but hung in thebalance against our record .

Fortunately for the Panj ab and the NorthWestern Frontier—by which name I always meanhere Hazara

,Peshawar, Kohat , Bannu , and the

Trans-Indus portions of Bannu and Dera Ismail

1898 SIR HENRY LAWRENCE 315

Khan , also Dera Ghazi Khan—there happened tobe at that time alive and in considerable power a

great and good man,known as Sir Henry Lawrence .

Not only was he personally and privately good , and

officially a great man ,but he had the marvellous

instinct of selecting for pos itions of trust and importance the most able and capable men as subordinates

and having made his selection , he gave such offi cers

his very greatest confidence , and advanced theirinterests with might and main whenever and whereever he had an opportunity of doing so . No success ,however great

,on the part of a junior oflficer created

any pang of j ealousy in the heart of this singul arly

pure-minded gentleman . The greater the success

or repute,the more did the heart of Sir Henry

Lawrence rej oice .It was to this wise instinct of selection that

Frederick Mackeson , Herbert Edwardes , James

Abbott,George Lawrence , John Nicholson , Harry

Lumsden,and others , were placed on duty on the fron

tier at a time when great men were wanted there inorder to meet and to overcome diffi culties with a tightand yet a kindly hand . M ackeson

’

s reputation hadbeen made during the firstAfghan w ar, and he was infame perhaps the greatest Englishman who ever servedon that frontier . I go by native evidence and opinion ,which is always a good standard to judge by, and thename and character of Mackeson are at this momentas fresh on the Peshawar Border and the KhyberRange as if he had passed away but yesterday . YetFrederick Mackeson died over forty-five years ago,and his history has not been written either by one ofhis own countrymen or by an Asiatic , to recall what hedid, and how he acted, and how he made himself loved

316 FRONTIER POLICY cx . x x x

and respected by the robber clans and tribesmen of theKhyber . James Abbott w as another modest , good,great man . His control of the Hazara District at a

period when the Sikh power w as up in arms againstthe authority of John Company is well known . In1857 the tribesmen of the Black Mountain, at therequest of Colonel Beecher

,turned on the Sepoy

mutineers, who, escaping from Mardan before thefurious attack of General John Nicholson , had takenshelter in Swat

,in Bunnu

,and had crossed the river

Indus to the left bank . These Sepoys were eitherkilled , or driven back across the river, or handed overa s prisoners to the British authorities . JamesAbbott ’ s influence over the Hazara mountaineerscaused them to attack our enemies and treat them inthis fashion . Let anyone now go and ask whetherthe procedure and rule of the later Panjab school ofDeputy Commissioners in Hazara could produce a

similar result amongst the tribes Of the BlackM ountain .

In 1897 , after the fall of the Khyber Pass into the“hands Ofthe Mullah Afridi lashkar,

’

and the burningand destruction of all our posts , forts , serais , &c . ,

I happened to be walking one morning from Kuldanna to thepost office at Murree . Two very old men were walkingahead of me , and hearing the name Abbott repeatedtime after time , curiosity induced me to j oin in theirconversation , and ask of whom they were talking andwho they themselves were . They were both residentsof the Hazara District , and one had been in thepolice at the time when James Abbott was DeputyCommissioner, and the second man had also been inthe service in some other capacity . To my inquiriesthey both said ,

‘Abbott Sahib was loved in the dis

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318 FRONTIER POLICY ox . x x x

and middlemen whom they could supervise effec

tually, worked wonders in checking crime and bringing under proper control their troublesome districts .The harsh rule of the Sikh had been replaced by thekind

,just

,and firm government of John Company,

carried out under the management of most capableofl

‘icers , and one of the best signs of the change wasseen in some eleven hundred men of the MalikdinKhel Afridis marching in to help one of our districtoflicers against a common enemy. The same goodsign was noticed at the commencement of ourtroubles in the great Indian Mutiny of 1857 .

But from its first institution the Arbab ormiddleman system between the district officer and

the trans-border tribesmen , w as a mistake and

should never have been continued . It might haveanswered for a period when the European officialknew his work thoroughly and had time and powerto control his agent , but this w as not always possible . From its very origin it was an error to have

allowed it , and as I go on I shall try and prove ina few words that from Agror round the border to thesouthernmost parts of the Kohat District , the middle

man has been the cause of nearly every disagreementand of much of the bloodshed between the BritishGovernment and the savages of the Independent

Hills .In the first years of our rul e on the North-West

Frontier of the Panj ab our district oflicers do not

appear to have complained of overwork and want oftime to mix with the people and learn their customs

and ways . The system of procedure in those days

was exceedingly simple and brief, and the work wasdone quickly

,satisfactorily to the people , and without

1898 LORD LYTTON’

S MINUTE 319

those endless appeals which the natives regard as an

evil in these times . Then came the Mutiny, whichunhinged for years the civil system of the province .

When that catastrophe w as tided over, and morepeaceful times came in , then the lawyers commencedto pour in codes

,enactments , procedure rules , &c .

,

to torment the heart and mind of the frontierofficial ; and then came the first growl from one ofour ablest men (there may have been complaintsbefore

,but I have had no opportunity of seeing them) ,

the late Maj or James , Commissioner of Peshawarabout 1861—1864 , which is given in para . 62 Of theReorganisation of the Frontier Minute by the lateLord Lytton

,then Viceroy of India . It is dated

April 22,1877 , and I give it here in full

In the first place , then , I think it should b e our aim to

cultivate more direct and frequent intercourse than at presentex ists b etween ourselves and the trib es on our b orders . I

have already had occasion to Ob serve more than once , whatI cannot too often repeat in reference to this sub ject , thatit is to the eflect of the straightforward , upright , and disinterested action of English gentlemen , and to the influencewhich higher mental pow er and culture never fail to ex ertover those who are b rought much in contact with them

,

rather than to superiority in fighting power and appliances,

that I attribute British suprem acy in India , as w ell as the

ex ceptional success of British rul e in all quarters of the

glob e . If personal character and influence b e the pow erfulengines I b elieve them to b e, it is desirab le that their forceshould b e ex ercised as constantly and directly as possib le .

For this among other reasons , I propose the appointment ofa Chief Commissioner at Peshaw ar , invested with ex ceptionally high powers , who can represent to the native mindmore directly and personally than either the L ieutenantGovernor at L ahore , or the still more distant Viceroy a t

Calcutta , the emb odied pow er and dignity of the British

320 FRONTIER POLICY ex . x 1x

Government . F or this reason , also , I propose to increase theadministrative staff of divisions and districts , so that theComm issioners and Deputy Commissioners , relieved of

much purely routine w ork , m ay have more time for visitingand b ecoming personally acquainted w ith their troub lesome ,

but not hopelessly unm anageab le , neighb ours . I have b eforeme now a minute by M ajor James , formerly Commissionerof Peshaw ar

,in which,

as the result of thirteen years ’

frontier ex perience , he ex presses him self most strongly as to the

ab solute impossib ility of comb ining a proper intercoursew ith the b order trib es w ith the ex ecution of his ordinarycivil duties . The then L ieutenant—Governor and L ordL aw rence hinted , indeed , that this incompatib ility of func

tions w as M ajor James’

s own fault , yet from all quarters Ihear M ajor James spoken of as one of the ab lest and most

active administrators the frontier has known , and one who,

but for his untimely death,had a b rilliant career b efore

him .

Here we notice for the first time a complaintmade by an exceedingly able man

,a most competent

and capable writer , the gentleman who carried outthe first summary Revenue settlement of the PeshawarValley

,and wrote a history of its residents and

neighbours which will always be a standard workof reference . Maj or James , Commissioner of thePeshawar Division at a very trying period, solemnlya sserts that he could not carry on his ordinary civilduties and keep up a proper intercourse with theborder tribes .He wrote this evidently between 1860 and 1864 .

In those years the Chief Court of the Panjab had notbeen established at Lahore . The Civil and CriminalProcedure Codes , the Jail Manual and Prisons Act ,Municipal Laws and Regulations , Revenue Act andRules pertaining to the same , and the thousand and oneother Acts , Regulations , and Rules , which now cling

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322 FRONTIER POLICY ex . x x x

chose to produce before me . Affairs pertaining toSwat were in the charge of a young Khan

,who

managed them so well that in 1877 , thanks to hisexertion s

,the Ottoman representatives who went to

see theAkhund at Saidu were turned back and stoned ,and taunted with being spies of the British Government . Later on , when we were on the verge of warwith the late Amir Sher Ali Khan

,a letter was

written by this young reprobate to Sherdil Khan ofAladand , asking the Swatis to create a disturbancein their quarter . This letter w as secured

,and taken

to the late Maj or Sir L . C avagnari in 1878 . Thesame middleman agency w as employed in workingthe Utman Khels and the Mohm and s . The KhalilArbab had political charge of the Mullagoris , Afridi ,and Shinwari tribes of the Khyber Range . TheMohmand chief looked after the Aka and Adam KhelAfridis . Bahadur Sher Khan

,Bangash

,had the

Kohat Pass . The Khans of Hangu paid specialattention to the Orakzai clans on the MiranzaiValley Border . This system w as evidently at thezenith Of its power when Lord Lytton wrote theminute to which I have already drawn attention

,for

para . 63 of the same despatch is thus worded

Again , for the reasons given ab ove , I think that theemployment of Arb ab s , or m iddlemen , should b e discont inued as much as possib le . I do not myself b elieve that itstrengthens our hold even upon the sm all class w e thusemploy. For every m an gratified by employment a hostof jealousies are raised against him and ourselves . There Is

some reason to fear that these personages are not altogetherincapab le of provoking or promoting difficul ties on the

frontier in the hope of increasing their own importance and

the police authorities at Peshawar have now ascertainedthat one of the Arb ab s most trusted by the Panjab Govern

1898 HEAVY WORK AND DIFFICULTIES 323

ment on that frontier w as carrying on a few months ago a

treasonab le correspondence with persons in Caubul, whichnothing but the man

’

s death enab led us to detect . I adm it ,however, that there are many occasions on which the servicesofArb ab s have b een, and may again b e, most valuab le to us ,

especially in Opening commun ication with frontier trib es ;but I think that whenever their services can b e dispensedwith, and direct communication opened or maintained by

our own authorities, this should b e done . Even if we could

always depend on the ab solute loyalty of Arb ab s , these men

cannot convey to the native the same clear idea of our

view s and character that he would gain by personal intercourse with British officers .

I have used the words hemmed in by heavy workand immense difficulties ,

’

and it is no exaggerationto write so . When your work is of a nature thatkeeps you occupied from 10 A .M . to nearly 7 P .M .

,

and often up to midnight , there is little time left tointerview and mix with the people under your chargeor to associate yourself with their feelings . Whenout in camp in the district, the chances of seeing theheadmen of villages and landowners were increased

,

but what prospect had the civil officer of learning thecharacters of these men The time at his disposalwas limited . His daily routine workhad to be carriedout nolens volens, whether he interviewed people ornot ; and by the time he began to know somethingof the district and its people

,ten to one that he found

himself transferred to some other charge .The same remarks will apply to interviewing the

j irgas (council of elders) of the independent countriesand hills adj oining your charge . If the special tribeconcerned had committed some outrage

,necessitating

their council being summoned to your headquarters,

this work had to be carried out through the KhanY 2

324 FRONTIER POLICY ox . x x x

who had political management of that border . Heselected and brought in those men whom it pleasedhim to produce before you . They were generallyindividuals who were tied to his fortunes in some w ay.

I can answer for myself that time after time at HotiMardan the presence of these hill men w as obnoxiousto me ; they took up my time , and , in spite of mycommand of the Persian and Pashtu languages

,I

felt that I could do no good with them . The changeafter Aj ab Khan ’ s disappearance improved matters ,for then I got acquainted with and w as permitted toknow the leading men in Buner

,and in October 1878

they made overtures to help us against the thenAmir of Afghanistan . With all my desire to mixwith the trans-border men , however , the Opportunityand , what is more , the time—to do so w as wanting .

It fact , it w as an impossibility .

Between the years 187O and 1879, when I j oinedthe Khyber appointment , I noticed no attemptmade to do away with the middleman agency .

Taking over the Khyber Range and the tribesconcerned in its management

,and placing them

directly under a British ofi cer, coupled with the

death of Arbab Maj id Khan and his son,Arbab

F uteh Muhammad Khan , at this juncture deprivedthe Khyber of all Khalil interference in its affairs

,and

up to July 11,1897 , no Khalil middleman was per

m itted to have any voice in my work . The drowningof Arbab Sarfaraz Khan in 1886—87 took the Akaand Adam Khel Afridis out of the hands of theMohmand chiefs , and the death of Bahadur SherKhan

,Bangash , removed another Obstacle from the

Kohat Pass . Then came the deportation of MuzaffarKhan of Hangu and his son , Bazgul Khan , to Lahore

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326 FRONTIER POLICY ox . x x x

did excellent work in Kohat as Commandant ofBorder Police after he had become acquainted w iththe people and after many years ’ residence there ,but just when his stay would have been still moreuseful toGovernment he was transferred to the Khyber .The same changes

,transfers

,&c .

,occurred in other

places,but to dwell more on this subj ect would be to

unduly lengthen this chapter,and render it more

tedious to the English reader .The Panjab policy

,then

,from 1870 to the time

of my departure from Peshawar on April 15 , 1898,is in principle the same policy which worked wellenough on the North-West Frontier

,when selected

men were appointed to theHazara and the Trans-Indiandistricts . It worked excellently so long as the menwere selected

,and had time to carry on their ordinary

civil duties and some leisure to cultivate more directand frequent intercourse with British subj ects undertheir charge and with the independent tribesmenacross the border . But a time came when selection—entire selection— was set aside

,and the enormous

growth Of civil work tied the district Officer to hisdesk all day, and barred his chance of b ecom

ing acquainted with the first and prevented all

intercourse with the second . Lord Lytton,as

Viceroy and Governor-General of India,had made

up his mind to apply the knife to this malady,

and had fully determined to separate Hazara,

P eshawar , Kohat , Bannu , Dera Ismail Khan , DeraGhazi Khan , with the exception Of the Cis-Indusportions of Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan

,

from the Panjab Province . Everything was readyprepared when the wretched Afghan campaignof 1878—1880 took place , ruined all chances of

1898 INTRODUCTION OF CHIEF COU RT 327

progress, and sent Lord Lytton back to England .

Since then no ruler of India has attempted to re-openthis very important question .

The Old Panjab policy began to totter in theSixties

,and a fitting landm ark would be the year

which saw the introduction of the Chief Court intothe province . A year or so on this side or that ofthe period need not be taken into much account .The weakness was discovered and pointed out by avery able Frontier Commi ssioner, but the subj ect w aspooh-poohed

,set aside

,and the Panjab officials had

little opportunity of learning Maj or Hugh James’ s

opinions on this important subj ect . Another difficulty

’

began gradually to make its appearance , andthis was that two masters had now to be consideredin the land of the five rivers . The Chief Court insistedon its judicial work being done promptly , in accordance with the strict lines of procedure and rules laiddown by it whilst the peace Of the frontier requiredthe services of a good, Strong adm inistrator

,who

knew the people and their ways , and a man of thiscalibre was of far higher value to Government thanthe frontier lawyer. Moreover, it was not alwayspossible to secure the attainments of a good lawyerand a good frontier officer being combined in one andthe same person . But both requirements had to beconsidered

,and this added a fresh link of weakness

to the chain , and. as this weakness increased year byyear, so did the necessity for a change come moreprominently into view . An d H .E . Lord Lyt ton w asvery near the mark when he wanted this frontierchange to be carried out in the year 1877 or 1878 . Iwould even prefer placing the year as 1879—Le . afterthe signature of the Treaty of Gandamak— for

328 FRONTIER POLICY ox . x x x

then the Beluchistan Agency was secured . TheKhyber had been tacked on to the Panjab chargeunder circumstances already related

, and the fate OfKurram ,

taken away from Afghanistan, had to be

disposed of. There w as thus the certainty of a largeincrease Of responsibility and work on the a lreadyheavily burdened Panjab Province , and then was theproper time to h ave carried out the Frontier Separation Scheme .I am a great opponent of the native Arbab or

middleman agency in dealing with our trans-borderneighbours . I have the greatest regard for our Asiaticbrethren as soldiers , and in any capacity that itpleases Government to employ them except this one ,which I would prefer seeing in the hands of Englishmen alone , wherever they could be usefully and safelyemployed . An Englishman will never intrigue withthe trans-border tribesmen against his own Government

,and my experience of the Asiatic is that he is

certain to do so if he can better himself or injure anenemy or a rival by so doing . The procedure in thisis very easy to carry out, and extremely difficult todetect and punish therefore , the safer side is to avoidall risk, and employ an Englishman alone , keeping thenative , the man usually worked in such dilemmas

,

far in the background . If an English officerhad beenappointed to do solely political work in the districtsof Hazara , Peshawar, Kohat , &c .

,many years ago,

what a number of frontier complications and wars ,and consequent expenditure of blood and money

,

might have been avoided &I speak in the same language of the middleman

who, as chief or Malik of the tribe

,is accepted by us

as the gO-between with his people and the Indian

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330 FRONTIER POLICY ox . x x x

Maizar in 1897 , and , later on , in the Afridi and Orakzai countries previous to the Operations which led toan advance into the heart of Tirah .

There are officers in the Panjab Government , orserving under it

,who may say that the employment

of English officers to do all the political work on thefrontier is Obj ectionable on two grounds (1) expense

(2) their incompatibility to mix with the trans-borderm an and understand his ways . There is no verygreat difi culty in answering these questions . First

,

as regards expense this may be greater than inemploying solely the Arbab and middl eman agencybut if war and bloodshed can be avoided by utilisingthe services Of selected English gentlemen, whateverexpenditure is incurred is certainly well spent . Whathas been the aggregate cost of the wars on thatPanjab Frontier ? Twenty millions

,thirty millions

sterling ? Who can tell the full amount,and total

up the interest alone on the full capital Of cost inorder to strike a profit and loss account But let metry a rough guess—work average from the late Afridi

,

Orakzai,and Mohmand w ar to Show what our losses

in one direction have been . The cost of keeping theKhyber Pass Open

,deducting the gain in octroi in the

good years,before H .H . the Am ir damaged the trade

of Afghanistan,was nearly rupees—put it at

for argument ’ s sake . If the war cost onemillion sterling only

,the interest on this at three per

cent . comes to rupees= tw0 and a

quarter times the cost of keeping the Khyber open . Ifthe war expenditure was increased to two or threemillions sterling

,the interest would be augmented

to rupeesrupees

, and this would enable the Panjab Govern

1898 MIXING WITH TRANS-BORDER MEN 331

ment to maintain four and a half or six and threefourths Khyber Passes open along their frontier onthe interest alone of the money spent on such war.

But sometimes acts are carried out which seemunaccountable . My native assistant

,whose sanc

tioned pay was 500 rupees a month,had to be sent

away in 1892 for constant intriguing with Maliks ,after Malik Am in Khan ’ s escapade had damaged himfor good . But all my attempts to get him replacedby a European , although his employment did notcause a pennyworth ’s increase in the sanctionedexpenditure , met with the greatest opposition . Iwrote for nearly a year, and , never getting a reply,I determined to do without the native assistant forthe time being . I believe my papers never passedPeshawar towards Lahore . Similar remarks willapply to the military officer whose appointment wasapproved of and submitted by the Panjab Governmenteither at the close of 1891 or the commencement of1892 , and which received the sanction of the Government of India and the Secretary of State for India inCouncil . He was to have learnt his work

,and taken

my place when I retired in July 1897 . But wherewas he when this period arrivedI now come to the question of ‘ the incompatibility

of the English Officer mixing with the trans-borderman and understanding his ways . ’ I think this sub

ject is not understood by the officials , who believe inthat theory . Mixing with the untrained Savageof the hill s does not mean that you are to live withthe man

,or share the same house with him , or

partake of food from the one platter . Al l that theEnglishman need do is to encamp in his own tent ,with his own staff of servants , wherever he can do so

332 FRONTIER POLICY ox . x x x

with perfect safety . If he has quarters or a house toreside in

,so much the better . In the early mornings ,

before Office work has commenced , or in the eveningswhen the day ’ s work is over

,let him walk out , or Sit

outside his quarters,and allow any and every savage

to come and sit down in the assembly and j oin freelyin the conversation that m ay be going on . The samething can be done at Peshawar or any frontier C antonm ent station but I have found it to answer bestin the country of the independent hillman in his ownhome . When some confidence has been assured,these men will speak of their customs , their feuds orfriendships

,and of what is going on amongst them

information which is not only extremely interesting ,but of great service for the future to the Englishmanwho listens . The germs of confidence once establishedamidst these people always bear fruit and increase ,as I have found out

,and the English official is treated

with far greater deference and respect than by theBritish native subj ect of Peshawar

,Rawal Pindi , or of

any other part of India . After twenty-nine years ’ ex

perience OfPeshawar , the British native subj ect wouldhave stolen the last coat Offmy back if he had seen a

chance of doing it with safety . In the Khyber Hills,

at Landi Kotal,Tor-Sappar

,Shilman valleys

,&c .

,

wherever my camp happened to be,it w as a point of

honour with the independent hillman that nothingwas ever removed from it . And the same securitywas assured to and secured to every visitor

,Euro

pean or native .I admit that there is another side to this picture

,

which is not quite so roseate . To go and live inthose hills for any length of time means to the averageEnglishman & considerable personal danger and risk

,

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334 FRONTIER POLICY ex . x x x

only take the frontier management into its ownhands . The Panj ab system has failed, after a trialof nearly half a century .

It is a matter for some wise expert to decide whenthe term ‘ Forward Policy first came into fashion

,

and what it really means . Does it cover the periodwhen the British power first went across the Indus inits tide of annexation and conquest after the fall ofthe Sikhs Did it come into use between the years1885 and April 1893 , when Lord Roberts w as

Commander-in-Chief Of the army in India ? Can itbe put down to the date when Colonel Algy Durandw as sent to re-open the Gilgit Agency ? Or was itfirst made use of after Sir M . Durand had made hisagreement with E .H . Am ir Abdur Rahman Khandemarcating the Afghan and. British spheres ofinfluence in November 1893 ? If the question wereput to the British public as to what the ‘ ForwardPolicy ’ is

,and who inaugurated it

,I doubt whether

one m an out of a thousand could answer the quest ion . It is easy now to lay the blame of the Chitralmisadventure on the events Of 1895 , but it must berecollected that during the years 1873 and 1874 Britishpolicy w as exceedingly active and energetic in Yarkand , on the Pamirs , and constituted the first GilgitAgency . Ten years later there was another politicalmission in the direction of Chitral , Gilgit , Hunza ,Mastey , and the Oxus . And

, lastly, Sir G . Robertsonwa s hovering about Kafiristan and Chitral between1890 and 1898, two years previous to his beingbesieged in Chitral during March and April 1895 .

I shall therefore try and point out the warswhich

,in my opinion , can be put down to the

‘ Panjab Policy,’ separating them from those for

1898 FRONTIER EXPEDITIONS 335

which the ‘Forward School ’may be con sidered

answerable .

Let me begin with Hazara . Here there has beenno attempt to seize and secure the lands of its independent neighbours , and therefore the expeditionto Kagan , November the ‘ expedition againstthe Hasanzais on the Black Mountain , 1853expedition against the Black Mountain tribes

,

‘ expedition against the Black Mountain tribes,

expedition against the Black Mountain tribes,

and the Baio expedition , cannot be placed tothe credit or discredit of the Forward school .But take the following expeditions & ‘ The affair

with the Hindustani fanatics in January ‘ theaflairs at Sheikh Jana and Narinj i in ‘ theexpedition to Sittana under Major-General Sir S .

C otton , April the Amb eyla cam

paign,

‘ the coercion of the Jaduns and Utmanzais

,

‘ operations in Baizai ,‘Operations

in the Lund Khwar Valley, expedition againstthe Ranizais in March ‘ punishment of theUtman Khel in May second operation in theRanizai Valley, May

‘ the three small expeditions against Iskhakot and Sapri

,

‘Operations

against the Mohmands , affair at P anjpaoApril against the Michni Mohmand s in 1854

,

affairs with the Mohmand s,December and January

1863 and ‘ the Shabkaddar event Of 1897 , whichbrought on the invasion of Mohmand country

,

’ theKhyber d ébcicle of 1897 , and the invasion of Tirah ,1897 Besides these , there were of lesser notethe ‘ expedition against the Kohat Pass Afridi s

,

expedition against the Bori Afridis,November

‘against the Aka Khel Afridis , 1854

‘ demon

336 FRONTIER POLICY ox . x x x

stration against the Hassan Khel section of theAdam Khel Afridi s ,

‘ closing Of the KohatPass

,1875 ‘ Jawaki campaign

,1877 - 78

’ Ifw e turn our attention to the Miranzai Valley

,there

w as‘ the expedition under Capta in J . Coke

,

a‘ second expedition under Brigadier Chamberlain

‘ expedition into the Kuram Valley,1856 ,

punishment of the Orakzai tribe in the autumn of1855 by a force under Brigadier Chamberlain

,

’

affair with the Bazotis at the Ublan Pass,

and the two Miranzai expeditions in 1891 andWe now go further south to the Waziris

,and note

first of all the ‘ expedition against the Umarzaisection of the Ahm adzais

, December againstthe Caubul Khel section of the U tmanzais , underBrigadier Chamberlain , December ‘ demonstration against . the Caubul Khel Waziris ,‘ expedition against the Mahsud Waziris

,April

expedition into the Dawar Valley,187 the Shirani

expedition ,‘against the Kasrani tribe

,April

and ‘ the Bozdar expedition ,I need not go further south amongst the Beluch

tribes to compile a heavier list of expeditions . Forall of these the ‘ Panjab Policy ’ is solely answerable .

I know that the ordinary English reader will hatewading through a long list of tedious campaigns andexpeditions but it is right that truth , even if tedious ,should be revealed , so that the people in Englandmay know that the

‘Forward Policy is not to blamefor all the wars , bloodshed , expenditure , and ill-feelingwhich have taken place on the North-Western Frontierof the Panj ab . The ‘ Forward Policy

,

’ on the otherhand , is certainly answerable for the events in Chitraland Malakand , and northwards of the same

,since

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338 FRONTIER POLICY cx . x x x

w as quite large enough to require the entire capabilit ies Of the ablest Governor who could be got in theland, and he had determined on taking a step whichhe knew would be beneficial first to the Panj ab

,and ,

secondly,advantageous to Beluchistan

,to Kashmir

,

to the Panjab Frontier Force,and to the Panjab

Frontier districts in getting them away from theLahore control . Unfortunately

,the Afghan war of

1878 broke out , and the frontier districts were leftt o their fate .

Since 1860 enormous changes have taken place inthe Panjab . A railway now runs from Delhi toPeshawar

,from Lahore to Karachi

,from Lalla Musa

towards the Indus , and down its left bank to Multan .

The Chief Court has been introduced , and numerousActs and Rules relating to matters civil , criminal ,educational , municipal , police , revenue , and to othersubj ects have been enacted. Therefore

,taking these

matters alone , the work of the Lieutenant-Governorhas been now doubled, if not trebled . Al thoughthe Malakand and Swat have been under theForeign Office of India since 1895

,the Panjab

charge has been increased by having the diffitKhyber and Kurram added to it , and since thesettlement of the Durand boundary there has been a

further increase of difficulties to the westward of theDurand line .

’ The Panjab has an area ofsquare miles , or square miles less than thetotal area of the United Kingdom . Its population in1891 w as a larger population than that ofPortugal and Spain together . Besides the territoryunder British administration , which is as large as

Italy, there is an area of one-third that size belonging to thirty-four feudatory native States , with a

1898 FRONTIER ADMINISTRATION 339

population of more than four and a quarter millions ,of whom the Lieutenant-Governor of the Panjabmaybe considered the chief. Surely this is an enormouscharge for one man to bear the heat and burden ofin these days , and it is impossible that one individualcan grasp adequately one half of the questions whichhave to come up to him for decision . But there isstill a third and even more difficult charge which he iscalled upon to understand and grapple with , viz . thefrontier tribes across his Panjab Border, split up intonumerous clans with divergent interests and with a

fighting strength estimated at armed men .

How can one man, however able and competent

,

understand all the various problems which ari sefrom so difficult a charge Many frontier questionsrequire an expert hand and speedy action to savefuture complications . They often necessitate an

immediate visit to the locality, which the LieutenantGovernor cannot always undertake

,and a knowledge

of the Pashtu language , which no Lieutenant-Governorthat I know of has yet acquired . I m ay be in error,but to the best of my belief no Governor of the Panjabhas ever been able to converse with the border peoplein both Persian and Pa shtu , and without this collo

quial knowledge no man should be allowed to remainpermanently in the Trans-Indus districts or be chiefover them . An official in those parts does not wantto see the Arb ab s and D arb aris and city magnatesonly

,who come to him and talk fluent Hindustani .

He ought to see the landowner in his own village,

and to have the time and be able for himself to asoertain how the revenue , the alienation of land , the costof litigation , and various other matters affect eachvillage community .

340 FRONTIER POLICY ex . x x x

The Panj ab Province is increasing in importanceevery day with new canals

,growth of trade , and a

development of wealth all over,especially in its capital

Lahore . It can with ease and credit carry out a

political ‘Hari Kari ,’and sever its future. connection

with its trans-frontier districts . This may be verypainful at first , but in the end the province will rej oiceover the act , and the frontier will be glad . The onlyw ay to prevent future wars on the frontier and tocreate a friendly impression on the wild man of theindependent hills

,is to alter the system which has

proved useless for thirty-five years . Replace it by thescheme which His Excellency Lord. Lytton intendedcarrying out when he was Viceroy of India , and whichmet with the approval of the Marquis Of Salisburyand the Government then in power. Let there be aChief Commissioner or officer on special duty (nomatter what name he may be called by) , one well up inPersian and Pashtu , and able to visit every spotwherever his presence is required. Let him be supplied with a sufficient staff to carry on the highercivil, criminal , and revenue details , so as to give himsufl

‘lcient leisure for his border work. Let Deputy

Comm issioners , Assistant Commissioners , &c .

,do

purely and solely the civil work of their districts .An d

,lastly, have political and police officers to under

take the trans-border police duties . Let all these beselected officers , with fair pay and promotion

,pass

ing their entire service on that frontier , with no

danger of transfer to a Cis-Indus charge . Give thisscheme

,which has thus been briefly noticed, a fair

trial , and. there is every certainty of a vast improvement in the relations between the Indian Government and the independent hillmen quickly following.

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342 THE TRIBES OF THE KHYBER cxx . x x

Khan,Timur-i-Lang

,Baber, Nadir Shah, Ahmad

Shah , and numerous other warrior chiefs pass andrepa ss through its famous rocky defiles during a

period of years ?Mackeson , writing of them ,

says & The Afridis area most avaricious race

,desperately fond of money .

Their fidelity is measured by the length Of the purseof the seducer

,and they transfer their Obedience

and support from one party to another of their ownclansmen

,according to the comparative liberality

of the donation .

’

Another authority says ‘Ruthless,

cowardly robbery, cold blooded , treacherous murderare to an Afridi the salt of life . Brought up from hisearliest childhood amid scenes of appalling treacheryand merciless revenge

,nothing can ever change him

as he has lived —a shameless , cruel savage—so hedies . ’ One more authority & ‘ On the whole

,

’ saysElphinstone

,

‘ they are the greatest robbers among theAfghans

,and I imagine have no faith or sense of

honour ; for I never heard of anybody hiring an escortof Khyb eris to secure his passage through theircountry—a step which always ensures a traveller ’ ssafety in the lands Of any other tribe .

’

To this let me add my little experience of nearlyeighteen years

,secured after a longer insight of Afridi

character inside and outside their country than generally falls to the lot of anyEnglish Official . The Afridilad from his earliest childhood is taught by the circum stances of his existence and life to distrust all

mankind, and very often his near relations , heirs tohis small plot of land by right of inheritance

, are his

deadliest enemies . Distrust of all mankind,and

readiness to strike the first blow for the safety of hisown life , have therefore become the maxims of the

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344 THE TRIBES OF THE KHYBER ex . x x

the burning of their homes,built up with enormous

labour,and after several years of work, for in Tirah ,

forts are not built by contract . And yet in thatsupreme hour of their distress they had a thoughtfor the safety of the Kafir who had done nothing forthem

,except to try to be their friend .

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346 INDEx

ATTOCKColonel , 221 ; accident to, on

Black Mountain , 231 ; ex tensionof service, 281

Attock , camp of ex ercise , 225Aziz Khan of Sudum , 48 ; death of,49

BADIARAD FORT , 95Bahram Khan of Lalpura , 32Banda -Kadd i-Roghani , surprise of,92 , 93

Bank failure , 15Bara Vall ey, 306Barrat, Mr.

, 220

Barrow , Colonel , 312

Barton , Captain , 281

Battys , Fred , 46Battye , Quintin , 10

Battye , Richm ond , 186

Battye , Wigram , 46 , 60, 62 , 67 ;death of, 73 , 74 , 89

Bazar Valley , visit to , 308Beckett, Mr. H . , 44 , 76

Bensley, Mr. , 164

Beresford , Lord W 201

Besud b rothers , 84Black Mountain ex pedition , 103 ,186 , 187

Bomb ay , visit of Khyb er Maliks to ,178

Border Military Police, comman

dant of, 325Boy, a courageous , 165Bradford , Sir E . , 207

Bright, General Sir R 82 , 84 in

the Laghman Valley , 94British soldier , assault by a , 83

Broadfoot, LieutenantW. , 4

Browne, Sir James , 201, 219

Browne , Sir Sam , 72

Brunker, Captain, 145Brydon , Dr. , 3

Buner Valley, 48 ; courage of old

Buner chief, 50 ; success of AjabKhan in , 51 ; Buner raid , 54 , 55 ; DABRAI HILL, 222 ; advantages of,subm ission of, 66 223

Burj -i-Harri Singh, 30 Darb ar at Peshawar, 172Burne, Sir Owen , 20 D argai , 300Burnes, Sir A. , 3 , 4 D avies , Major , 252

Deputy Commissioner of Peshawar,w ork of, 325

CALCUTTA, visit ofKhyber Maliks to, Devotee ’s curse, a , 35

175 D ick, Captain , 283

D ICKCallander , Major, 31Campb ell , Sir Colin , 61

Caravan arrangements in the Khyher, 102

Carrier pigeons used , 136 , 143Cashm iri contractor, 104Caubul , English at , in 1843 , 3 , 4 ;massacre of Cavagnari

’

s M issionat , 81 improvem ents in , 153

Caubul River railw ay , 206 ; surveyof, 215 ; visit of Mr. O’

Callaghan

to , 225

Cavagnari, Sir Louis , 28 appointedDeputy Comm issioner of Peshawar, 56 on Jawaki ex ped ition,58 attacks Sapri, 60 at 18k

b akot, 63 as a chief, 66 , 69applies for Warburton ’

s services ,72 , 73 , 74 , 77 ; murder of, 81

Cawnpore, 9C ecil , William , 19

Chamla Valley , ex pedition to , 50Chesney , Maj or , 281Chitral , reb ellion in , 275

Cholera , 77 , 78Chor-Galh,murder of kahars at , 91Chorb anda , 57

C larence , Duke of, visits Khyb er,207 courtesyto Ayub Khan , 213

new s of his death, 214Clements , Mr. and Mrs . , 264

Coke , Sir John , 227

Collen , Sir E . , 282

C oll ett, General Sir H . , 249

C onnaught, Duke and Duchess of,120, 128

Conolly , Captain, 5

Conolly, Major, 72Cord ery , Mr. , 106

Creagh, Captain Brazier, 203Cunn ingham , 84

Curzon , Colonel the Hon . M 271

Curzon , Lord , visits Caubul , 271

INDEXBILDEE

Bildes , 17Dilke, Sir Charles, 190Dillon, Sir Martin, 18Dir, Khan of, passesKhyb er , 181District ofi’

icers , work of, 321Donald , Mr., 326

Dost Muhammad , 3Dufferin, Lord , visits Peshawar,171 visits Khyber, 174

Dum Dum , 2 bullets , 307Durand, Sir Mortimer, his mission ,

261

Dwa-Toe, 304 defile of, 305

through

LEPHANT presented to Am ir, 161lgin , Lord , arrival at Sim la , 264 ;reaches Peshawar , 272

Elphinstone , General , 4English officers on the frontier,work of, 330

Eyre, Sir Vincent, 6

RAM MUHAMMAD KHAN, governorofAli Masj id , 68, 96Fanshawe, Mr. , 265

Fenn, Surgeon-L ieut.-Col . , 261Fitzpatrick , Sir Denis , 265 , 282Frontier policy in the Peshaw arValley, 86 ; evils of former, 37 ;discussion of, 313 ; inefficiencyof late offi cers, 316 ; form er system , 317

Frontier political officers , work of,324

Frost, Rev. G. , 10

Fulford , Captain, 115 ; murder of,116

Futtehab ad , battlefield of, 89

GANDAMAK, treaty of, 77Garryhinch, 1

Garwood , Colonel , 194Gaselee, Sir Alfred , 28, 308Ghazni , storming of, 2Gholam Hyder, Sipar Salar , 291Gloster, L ieutenant, 221Gordon, Sir T. , 137 ; receives theAmir , 140, 141

Gough, Sir Charles, 84Grant, Colonel James, 17

347

KARACHIGriffin , Sir Lepel , 148Guides , Corps of, 46 in the ChamlaValley, 50 attack Sapri , 60 ;surprise Iskhakot, 62 ; massacreat Caubul , 81

Gurgurra Ziarat, story of, 210

INGLIs , CAPTAIN, 203Ishak Khan, reb ellion of, 152 ; defeated by Amir, 187

Iskhakot, attack on, 61 ; fined , 64

JAGDALLAR, 5

Jam es , Major, 319, 321Jamrud , 30 ; origin of name, 130 ;view from , 236

Jaw aki ex pedition , 58

Jenk in s , Sir Francis, 46 , 50Jenkyns , 77 ; murder of, 81 ; work

on Jelallab ad revenue, 85Johnson , Captain, 4

KAFIRISTAN , visited by McNair, 97Kafirs , subjection of, 152

Kajouri Vall ey , troub les in, 114

Kaka Khals , caravan of, 86

Kam al , story of freeb ooter, 107rob b ery ofCommissioner ’ s horses ,108 ; death of, 110

Karachi , visit of Khyber Maliks to,180

HAD DA MULLAH, 295Hakmut Khan , 50, 53

Haldane , Captain, 312

Ham ilton , SirW. , 11

H am ilton,Walter, 46 murder of, 81Hart , General , 308Hastings, Major, 76 , 78, 81, 99 ;

acting political officer in Khyb er ,265

Hennessy, George, 6 , 20H ildeb rand , Colonel , 194H industani fanatics , 51Holford , Captain, 207

Hoti—M ardan, Guides at , 29 ; horsesteal ing at , 44

Hughes -Buner, 47Hunter, Charles , 46Hutchinson , 46 , 69

Hyder Khan, 240

348

KATTA

Katta Kushtia , 69Kazi Sayad Ahmad , 176

Kelly, Amb rose, 47 murder of, 81Kempster, General , 302, 304Kensington Grammar School , 10Khalo Khan , 93 , 94

Khayasta Khan , attempted murderof, 168

Khyb er Maliks , visit Caloutta , 176 ; visit Bomb ay, 178 ;visit Karachi, 180Khyb er Pass , description of, 70 ;attempt to insure peace in , 80 ;policy towards trib es in , 98 ; ar

rangements In 1882 , 101 ; im

provements in the road , 119 ;Duke of Connaught in , 128 ;safety of, 130 ; progress in , 164 ;Duke of Clarence in , 207 ; snow

in , 230 form ation ofwater supplyin , 274

Khyb er Rifles, 103 ; ordered to

Black Mountain ,186 ; good ser

vices of, 189 ; d istribution of

medals to, 203 ; decorated byDuke of Clarence, 208, 212 ; visitto Calcutta , 228 ; in the BlackMounta in , 231 ab andonment of,by Comm issioner of Peshawar,298

Khw as Khan Malik , disturb s Khyb er, 182 , 196

King Harman , Lieut . , 47King ’

s own ScottishBorderers, 304 ,305

Kohat, 28Kuki Khels , 7 1 ; troub les , 116 dis

turb Am ir ’ s camp , 138 ; fined ,234 ; native officers , 238 ; desertion of, 253

LAGHMAN VALLEY, ex ped ition to,

94 ; darbar in , 95

Lakk a Sar Peak , ascent of, 125Lalu , b attle of, 50

Laman Khan , Sub adar M ajor, 237Landi Khana , w ater at , 101Land i Kotal , troops at , in 1879, 78thieves at , 80 ; ruin of b arracksat , 114 ; strength of, 166 ; build

ing of serai at , 184 ; ride to , bynight, 196 ; visit of Lord Lansdowne , 202 ; water tanks at , 280

INDEX

MERK

Lansdowne, Lord , visits Khyber,169, 200, 201

Larkins , Major, 9Lawrence, Sir Henry, 315 ; lieutenants of, 315

Legh, Lieut. , 133Lockhart, Sir William , visits TorSappar, 282 ; comm ands Tirahcampaign , 299 ; a sks for War

burton ’

s services , appreciation of, 312

Lovett, Colonel , 169Ludianah, 8

Lyall , Sir James , 235

Lytton , Lord , 73 ; m inute of, 319 ;estimation ofm iddlemen , 322

MACDONALD , L IEU T . , 167 , 169, 182 ,190, 193 ; surveys Caubul River,215 ; troub les w ith Mohmands ,218

Macdonald , Major, 31

of, 32 ; m onum ent to , 33M ackenzie, Colonel , 92Mackeson , Colonel , monument to,38 in charge of Khyb er, 38 ;murder of, 39 road in the Khyb er, 70; native appreciation of,315

Macnaughton , Lady, 95Macnaughton , Sir William , 4

Macpherson , Captain , 27

McNab , Sir Donald , 57 , 73 , 75McNab , Surg.

-Captain , 269

McNair, Mr. , 96 , 97

McQueen , General , on the Khyb erRifles , 187

McQueen , Sir IL , 46

Maddat Khan , 91

Maddock , Rev . R. , 6

Maginn is , 93Maharajpore , b attle of, 6

Maidan , 301

Malikd in Khel , freeb ooters , 107 ;fined , 107

Malka , destruction of, 50

Martin , Mr. and Mrs . , 264

Mauladad Khan , Subadar Major,197 ; death of, 229, 237

Mauzoon , influence of the, 293Mayo , Lord , 201Merk , W. R. , appointedAssistant Political Oflicer Ali

murder

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3 50 INDEXSANDEMAN WARBURTON

Sandeman, Sir Rob ert, 180 Turmat, 3Sandford , Inspector-General , 169Sapri, 58 ; attack on, 59

Sarkai , b lood feud , 241Sartip Muhammad Hassan Khan ,

97

Sassobai Pass, escape ofAl i Masj idgarrison through, 72

Sayad Akb ar Mullah. See Akb arSayad Secunder Shah, wounded ,307 ; assistance of, 310

Shabkaddar, 31

Shah Shujah, 2 ; son of, 8

Sha

t

hdad Khan of Hund , murder0 25

Sher Ali, Amir , 19 ; w ar d eclaredagainst, 68 ; flight of, 85

Shilmani trib e, 112 ; Valley, 164 ;construction of road through,193 ; work stopped , 195 ; railway surveyed through, 217

Shinwaris, 71 ; defeated b y the

Am ir, 151Sikhs , 15th, 20; contrasted w ithPathans , 313

SipahAfridis, 154Sipri, 5Sm ith, Mr. H . Bab ington, 264Smith, Mr. W. H 30

Snow wells , 125

Soady, Colonel , 31, 33Soutar, Sir F . , 178

Stewart, Colonel, 169Stewart, George, 46 , 62Stormy Petrel of the frontier, 52Sturt, Colonel , 3Suddum, raid on, 54

TALBOT, LIEUT.-COLONEL, 276Tartarra , repair of road , 112 ; description of, 112 ascent of peak ,122 ; climate in , 124

Taru, robb eries at , 41Taylor, Colonel R. , 50

aylor, Mr., 248

Telegraph, wonders of, 177Tirah campaign, 300 et seq.

Government order on, 310Tor-Sappar plateau, 126 ; climateof, 163 advantages as a hillstation, 221

Toynbee, Commander J 11

Troup , Captain, 4

Turner, Colonel , 89, 139

U DNEY, Ma , inaction of, 249 ; refuses assistance, 265 ; proclamation of, 266 ; visits GholamHyder, 282 ; telegram to Governm ent, 299U llus Well , 185

Umra Khan, 181

U rm ston , Captain, 186

U tman Khels, attack on, 64

VAMBERY, PROFESSOR, 89

WALKER, SEaeEAN'r, captured by

Afridis, 307Wall i Muhammad Khan, 72 ; loy

alty of, 79 ; obtains Maliki of

Zakha Khels , 82 honesty of, 104 ,113 visits Shilman Valley, 164his sons, 211 ; appreciation ofDuke of Clarence, 214Walsh, Captain , 5

Walton , Mr. Joseph, 255Waran , entry of troops into, 303Warburton , Arthur, 1, 9, 14Warburton, Richard , 1Warburton , Rob ert, 1 ; appointed toBengal Artillery, 2 ; storming ofGhuzni, 2 ; marriage, 3 ; reserveof, 12 ; death of, 13

Warburton , Sir Rob ert, b irth of, 5 ;school , 6 ; leaves India for England , 9 ; at Kensington Gramm ar School, 10 ; at Woolwich,11 ; returns to India , 11 ; atMian Mir, 14 ; passes in Urdu, 15 ;posted to 21st Panjab Infantry,16 ; joins Abyssinian ex pedition,16 ; marriage , 19 ; appointed to

Panjab Comm ission, 20 ; appointed to Hoti-Mardan, 46 ;troub le with Ajab Khan, 52 ;appointed to Yusufzai, 53 ; attacks Iskhakot , 62 ; receivesthank s of Government, 66 ; applies for active service, 72, 74Government of India on his ser

vices , 75 ; appointed PoliticalOflicer in the Khyb er, 78 ; ap

INDEXWARBURTON

pointed Political Officer to General Bright , 82 ; accompaniesMuhammad Hassan Khan , 88 ;m eets Yakub Khan , 89 ; attackedby fever, 98 ; receives Government approval , 99 ; return s to

England , 99 in the Tartarra

Range , 113 ; reduction of salary ,119 ; at Landi Kotal , 124 ; escorts Abdur Rahm an , 134 ; re

ceives thanks of Governm ent146 ; visits Sipah Afrid is , 154visits Shilm an country , 164

escorts Lord Dufferin , 174 visitsKadan, 191 ; life on Shinw ariplateau , 197 ; returns to Simla ,200; gazetted 206 ; recom

mendations concerning Khyb erRifles , 235 request for a ssistancerefused , 253 ; applies for increasedpay, 257 ; furlough at Murree,259 ; recomm endations not car

ried out , 283 ; last days in

Khyb er , 284 ; departure fromPeshaw ar , 285 ; thanks of Go

vernment , 286 ; offered re-em

ployment, 297 appointed Political Officer in Afrid i campaign ,

300 ; loses his b aggage , 308 ;gallantry of his orderlies , 311 ;recommendations in frontierpolicy , 313 340 ; opinion ofAfi'idi

character , 342

351ZOULA

Waterfield , Colonel , 27 , 77 ,99

Web b , Captain , 5

Welsh Fusiliers ’ goat, 226Wheeler, SirHugh, 9

Widow , story of a Zakha Khel , 159Wilk inson , Mr. Spencer, 254Williamson , Lieutenant, 34 ; death

of, 35

Willock , Sir H . , 10

Wolseley, General Sir G 297

Wom en , position of, in the Khyber,198

YAKUB KHAN brought into Jelallab ad , 89

Yasin Khan , Sub adar Major , 310Yusufzai , appointment of Warburton to, 53

ZAIDULLA KHAN of Daggar, b raveryof, 50 ; death of, 51

Zakha Khel , ab duction of b and

m aster b y, 43 ; position in the

Khyb er , 70 ; mischief-making by,77 ; independence of, 106 ; land

dispute, 118 ; ra ids upon Shin

w ari wom en , form ation , 159 of a

shrine , 210Zam an Khan, Sub adar M ajor, 242 ;Am in Khan ris ing, 247 ; savesAm in Khan , 279

Zoula , 16

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